Assignment #1 - Option C Ali Brown

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Ali Brown
Dr. Mendonca
PSY 241
26 September 2024
Attkisson and Rosenblatt: The Prevalence of Psychopathology Among Children and Adolescents
In Attkisson and Rosenblatt’s study, The Prevalence of Psychopathology Among Children
and Adolescents, the purpose of the study was to analyze the prevalence of childhood disorders
among youth ages 1–18 through a spectacle of case studies and interviews. I chose this research
question as I am fascinated by abnormal psychology and hope to pursue a graduate degree in
forensic psychology. Attkisson and Rosenblatt’s hypothesis was an estimate of a 1-5%
prevalence rate of childhood psychiatric disorders.
The research methods that the authors selected were epidemiology and longitudinal
research design to assess psychiatric disorder prevalence rates among adolescents and children.
Epidemiology studies sought correlations between psychological behaviors and health factors. In
contrast, longitudinal studies analyze behavioral changes over time. The dependent variables
were measured through case ascertainments like behavior checklists, diagnostic criteria,
interviews, and impairment scores. The interview was measured via Rutter Schedule, which is an
interview and questionnaire that was formulated around Rutter’s criteria for psychiatric
disorders. The Rutter Schedule was a measure in this study that aided in narrowing down
prevalence rates in the results. The study consisted of two stages; the first stage serves as a
mental health screening for the participants, while the second stage evaluates
When selecting participants, the researchers ensured that the studies they utilized
displayed prevalence statistics of all psychiatric disorders in children. Additionally, the

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researchers considered how geographic demographics could impact the results and selected
samples from over 20 countries to reduce confounds. The samples were grouped into 4
categories: preschoolers, preadolescents, adolescents, and wider ranged ages. The mean sample
size of the first stage of the experiment was 1000 participants, whereas the mean sample size of
the second stage was 291 participants.
The methods of this study can be argued as generally inefficient due to the small sample
sizes and lack of research regarding the prevalence of diagnosis rates among children and
adolescents. One small advantage of the research methods in this study is the high variance
among all groups, which increases the reliability of this study and indicates that the independent
and dependent variables accurately measure the intended criteria. Additionally, the Rutter
Schedule Interview tool helps increase internal validity as it is a thorough and accredited
questionnaire for the time period. One disadvantage of this study is the relatively small testing
sample, which heavily reduces the external validity of the experiment, “For example, a
prevalence rate of 12% would yield only 120 cases in a sample of 1,000” (Attkisson, 1998).
Another conflict regarding the study's measures is that the sample size only tests between
different age groups, which limits the ability of these findings to be applicable over a child’s
developmental span. The final critique I have of this study is the lack of measures that effectively
measure severity; for instance, the authors stated that there were struggles operationalizing the
measure of severity.
The results of this study concluded that there is a 14.9% prevalence rate of childhood and
adolescent psychiatric disorders. I believe the statistics found by Attkisson and Rosenblatt to be
reasonable and accurate, as a lower rate can be explained by the lack of DSM criteria prior to the
1980s and consequently a lack of diagnoses. However, the range of 1% to 51% prevalence rates
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among age groups is quite questionable and poses concern for potential confounding variables.
These possible confounding variables could arise from demographic factors, psychological
criteria developing over long periods of time, and the small sample size. Despite these
limitations, I found this study to be quite interesting, as I was expecting the prevalence rates of
childhood psychiatric disorders to be lower given the societal beliefs towards mental illness
between the 1950s and 1980s.

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Citations
Roberts, R. E., Attkisson, C. C., & Rosenblatt, A. (1998). Prevalence of Psychopathology
Among Children and Adolescents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155(6), 715–725.
https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.155.6.715

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1 Brown

In Attkisson and Rosenblatt’s study, The Prevalence of Psychopathology Among Children

question as I am fascinated by abnormal psychology and hope to pursue a graduate degree in

forensic psychology. Attkisson and Rosenblatt’s hypothesis was an estimate of a 1-5%

prevalence rate of childhood psychiatric disorders.

displayed prevalence statistics of all psychiatric disorders in children. Additionally, the

the second stage was 291 participants.

between the 1950s and 1980s.

Roberts, R. E., Attkisson, C. C., & Rosenblatt, A. (1998). Prevalence of Psychopathology

Among Children and Adolescents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155(6), 715–725.

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