[Epidemiological study on mental morbidity of the child at the age of latency]

A random sample of 300 9-year-old children in the canton of Vand were given a psychiatric examination. Boys showed psychopathology more often than girls, lower class children more than higher class children, children of foreign origin more than children of Swiss parents, children who had been separated from their families during their first three years of life more than children who had not been separated. On the other hand, the child psychiatric services were less well known by persons from those population groups, in which children showed psychopathologic findings more often. Questions concerning the intervention strategies that follow from these observations are discussed.