Psychiatric Disorders in Preschoolers: The Structure of DSM-IV Symptoms and Profiles of Comorbidity

​Psychiatric disorders have been increasingly recognized in preschool children; at present, however, we know comparatively less about how well current diagnostic manuals capture the symptoms described in this age group and how comorbidity is patterned. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether the symptoms defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) load on their respective disorders, examine whether individual symptoms exist that load particularly high or low on the disorder they allegedly define, and analyze how comorbidity clusters in individual children.