High Rates of Multiple Mental Health Disorders Found in Australian Preschoolers
A new Monash-led study by Professor Megan Galbally, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, and Program Director at Monash Health, has found that mental health disorders are common and often overlapping in preschool children, with those experiencing multiple conditions at greater risk of long-term impacts on their health and development. In the Mercy Pregnancy Emotional Wellbeing Study, lead author, Dr Karen Wynter, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences based at Monash Health, examined 545 children aged three to four, for mental disorders using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA). The findings show that nearly half (48 percent) of the children met the criteria for at least one mental disorder and of these, 44 percent had at least one additional disorder. This translates to around one in five children (21 percent) overall were living with multiple mental health conditions.
Anxiety disorders were the most commonly identified and frequently presented alongside other conditions, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and depression. Depressive disorders, while less common, were only observed in combination with other diagnoses.
Dr Wynter said that the study challenges traditional approaches that categorise childhood mental health into distinct groups, such as “internalising” or “externalising” disorders. Instead, the findings point to a more interconnected pattern of symptoms emerging early in life.
“The results highlight the importance of early, broad-based mental health assessments as well as the need for integrated services that can address multiple conditions at once for preschoolers to improve long-term outcomes,” she said.
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