Troubles du comportement entre 18 et 36 mois : symptomatologie et psychopathologie associées

Studies on behavior disorders in early childhood (ages 0-3) are more recent and less numerous than studies conducted about school-age children. Thus, the discrepancy between behaviors posing a clinical problem and normal development in toddlers needs to be better defined. The symptomatology and psychopathology comorbid with behavior disorders has not yet been answered using empirical and longitudinal data. The study presented here compares a clinical group (40 children, aged 18 to 36 months, with behavioral problems) with a non-clinical group (30 typically developing children from the same age group). Data were collected with the Symptom Check-List and the diagnostic classification Zero to Three. The results showed that behavioral symptoms (including opposition, aggression, hyperactivity, and inattention) were much more frequent and intense in the clinical group than in the non-clinical group. Most of the clinical group demonstrated comorbid separation, sleep and feeding problems. The clinical group's symptoms also were associated to a problematic relational context and to criteria for disorder of affect (including anxiety disorder in early childhood and mixed disorder of emotional expressiveness). Given that multiple risk factors point to an unfavorable prognosis in the majority of clinical cases, the present report emphasizes the importance of early intervention and treatment for behavior disorders.