Study: Boy's parents more likely to report problems - USATODAY.com: Parents of about 15% of kids spoke to school staff or health care providers about their children's emotional and behavior problems in the last year, according to a survey released Wednesday, the first-ever to gauge the issue.
Nearly 1 out of 5 boys had parents who discussed such difficulties, and about 1 out of 10 girls, says the report from more than 17,000 parents with children 4 to 17 years old. The survey, released by the National Center for Health Statistics, was done in 2005 and 2006.
There's no comparable earlier survey, but some children's mental health experts were surprised at the extent of concern, especially for boys — and divided as to whether it's a good or bad sign.
About 5% of children were prescribed medicine, mostly for attention-deficit disorder (ADHD), with another 5% receiving other treatment, such as therapy, alone or combined with medication.
