title: [Behavioral somatic disorders in hospitalized children].
abstract: The research has investigated the occurrence of somatic and behavioural disorders in 100 hospitalised children. A hundred subjects, 55 males & 45 females, aged between 6 and 14 years were asked to fill in questionnaires. These, which were of a completely new type, related to 12 situations in a typical day. The results showed statistically significant differences between the two sexes. Girls manifested a much higher percentage of disorders than did boys. Further, young children and especially pre-adolescents (subjects aged 10-11) manifested more disturbances than did those in the adolescent category. Of the subjects 32% showed a number of disorders below the norm; 36% of the cases were within normal values, 17% were above the norm and the remaining 15% of the subjects were considered to be of particular interest. The most frequent somatic disorders were in heart-rate variations, abnormal sweating (especially of the hands when being orally tested at school), abdominal-aches and headaches. Of the behavioural disorders the most frequent were in the inability to stand still and nail-biting. Also worthy of note, though less frequent, were disorders in eating and in sleeping. It was especially at the end of the day ("before going to sleep") that all these problems occurred. They were also frequent, however, during the periods "at school", "during oral tests" and "watching television". The results obtained in parallel research on 125 primary school children confirm all of the above findings.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università di Genova, Italia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guasco
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gugliada
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gamalero
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D004688:Encopresis / Q000523:psychology; D004775:Enuresis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D006948:Hyperkinesis / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009259:Nail Biting / Q000523:psychology; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000523:psychology; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
vernacular_title: Disturbi somatici comportamentali in bambini ospedalizzati.