[Factor structure of psychopathologic symptoms in the pre-school age]

The authors present a factor analysis of 49 psychic and physical peculiarities found in 294 children in creches, most of them high-risk children; these were perinatologically classified at the time of birth, and an examination was performed by neuropsychiatrists and a follow-up clinical and psychological examination made, at the age of 2.0-2.3 years. The following two problems were of interest: 1. Can psychosyndromes be detected in creche children and, if so; 2. Does the psychosyndrome obtained through factor analysis contain vegetative symptoms? Results - The peculiarities can be grouped as follows: (table; see text) This is the first time that the existence of a pre-school chronic psychosyndrome has been detected using a multivariate method. Its basic structure is as described by Göllnitz. A discussion follows of its position within the symptom variability in damaged and disturbed children, and of rough brain localization analogies.