Caractéristiques psychopathologiques des enfants portugais dans un centre de consultation parisien - Une étude comparative

In order to describe the psychopathological characteristics of immigrant children and provide data on health service needs, we carried out a study on Portuguese children attending a child psychiatry outpatient clinic in Paris. Among 1658 children seen at the clinic during a 4-year period, all Portuguese children (N=62) were included and compared with a control group (N=186) of French subjects matched for age and sex. Results show that Portuguese children of the Paris borough under study attended the clinic more frequently than their French counterparts. The boy-to-girl ratio was found to be smaller for the Portuguese group. Poor performance in school, low proficiency in French and social disadvantages were characteristic of the Portuguese group, whereas disturbances in family relationships were a distinctive feature of the control group. For the Portuguese children, the symptoms varied according to the place of birth. In the discussion, the importance of population-based studies is stressed in order to interpret the results drawn from the clinical samples and to provide estimates of psychiatric morbidity among immigrant children. Finally, it is suggested that an attempt be made to detect these disorders early and try to prevent them from occurring.