title: Continuity of behavioral and emotional problems from pre-school years to pre-adolescence in a developing country.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  All previous longitudinal community studies assessing the continuity of child behavioral/emotional problems were conducted in developed countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six hundred and one children randomly selected from a Brazilian birth cohort were evaluated for behavioral/emotional problems through mother interview at 4 and 12 years with the same standard procedure - Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  CBCL Total Problem score presented a medium stability (r = .42) with externalizing problems showing higher stability and more homotypic continuity than internalizing problems. Of the children presenting deviant scores at the age of 4, only 31% remained deviant at the age of 12 (p < .001). A deviant CBCL Total Problem score at 12 years old was predicted by Rule-Breaking Behavior [OR = 7.46, 95% CI 2.76-20.19] and Social Problems [OR = 3.56, 95% CI 1.36-9.30] scores at 4 years of age. Either Rule-Breaking or Aggressive Behavior - externalizing syndromes - were part of the predictors for the three broad-band CBCL scores and six out of the eight CBCL syndromes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Behavioral/emotional problems in preschool children persist moderately up to pre-adolescence in a community sample. Externalizing problems at the age of 4 comprise the developmental history of most behavioral/emotional problems at pre-adolescence. Our findings concur with findings from developed countries and are quite similar for continuity, stability and predictability.
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduate Program in Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. luanselmi@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Anselmi
authors.forename: Fernando C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Barros
authors.forename: Maycoln L M
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Teodoro
authors.forename: César A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Piccinini
authors.forename: Ana Maria B
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.forename: Cora L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Araujo
authors.forename: Luis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rohde
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence