RELATIONAL ASPECTS AND SYMPTOM PATTERNS IN CLINICAL AND NON-CLINICAL CHILDREN

The issue regarding the mutual influence between early relationships and development of psychopathology in infancy is hard to investigate. The aim of this study was the assessment of symptomatic aspects in clinical children, relationship’s qualities with the caregiver and the evaluation of correlations between these aspects. The clinical group was compared with the nonclinical children. The clinical group is composed of 196 children with different clinical diagnosis, while the non-clinical group consisted of 80 children, matched by age. General and clinical information was collected with the Clinical Data Form. Symptom aspects were measured through the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), compiled by the parents, and Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF), compiled by the clinician. The relationship with both caregivers was evaluated by the clinician with the Scala di Valutazione della Relazione (SVR). Significant differences were found between the diagnosis of children and relationship issues (SVR), as well as with the syndromic scales (CBCL and C-TRF). Additionally significant correlations emerge between the SVR scales, CBCL scales and C-TRF scales. Finally, it was interesting to note that the growth of children’s ages is related with relationship problems but not with symptomatic pattern. Differences with the non-clinical group are expected. The study highlights how clinical children are characterised by a wide range of symptoms, internalizing aspects and externalising behaviours, as well as by difficulties in the relationship with the caregiver. These evidences show the importance of the parent-child relationship’s assessment from the early stages of development.