[Incidence of psychiatric symptoms and somatic complaints in 4- to 10-year-old children in Germany as judged by parents--a comparison of norm-oriented and criteria-oriented models].

OBJECTIVES To analyze the frequency of behavioral/emotional problems and somatic complaints of children aged four to ten as rated by their parents. METHOD The analysis is based on the PAK-KID study on behavioural and emotional problems and psychosocial competencies of children and adolescents in Germany. In a nationally representative sample of N = 1030 children aged four to ten years the parents rated their child using the Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS The prevalence rates of the symptoms are presented. Additionally global prevalence rates based on three different models were calculated and compared. They range from 13.1% to 28.3%. The issues of defining cutoffs necessary for the calculation of prevalence rates are discussed.