Depressive disorder in preschool children: patterns of affective organization.

In the present study the authors attempt to identify the pattern of depressive problems in children aged 3 to 6 years by employing a new rating scale (The Preschool Children Depression Checklist). Depressive symptoms were expressed in the form of 32 questions that cover an array of depressive behaviors as manifested in this age range. A factor analysis was carried out on 156 checklists submitted to the teachers of the control group in order to identify early affective behavioral patterns of the depressive disorder. Results confirmed the hypothesis that a coherent emotional structure underpins children's manifest behaviors. Three factors were empirically derived. These factors seem to be particularly important since statistical comparison showed significant differences among factor scores of a sample of children who met diagnosis of depression, a sample of children who met diagnosis of anxiety disorder, a sample of control children.