Intellectual ability and achievement in psychiatrically hospitalized children with conduct, anxiety, and affective disorders.

Abstract

The IQ and academic achievement of psychiatrically hospitalized children were studied. The sample consisted of 76 children, with a mean age of 10 years, who received diagnoses of conduct, oppositional, anxiety, and affective disorders on the basis of a structured diagnostic interview. A relative deficit in verbal abilities was observed for conduct-disordered children, extending to pre-adolescents the findings previously obtained for adolescent delinquents. Depressed children were characterized by underachievement, which is consistent with the learned helplessness literature. Contrary to expectations, children with an anxiety disorder had a lower IQ than children without the disorder. No cognitive deficits were observed for children diagnosed as oppositional.