Symptoms of presentation in hyperactive and clinic children

Symptoms of presentation at a child psychiatric clinic were compared in a group of 100 children described as hyperactive and a similarly aged group of 229 children referred to the clinic for the full range of child psychiatric problems. The hyperactive children showed significantly more speech problems, sleep problems and nightmares, and management problems and temper tantrums than the clinic group. These problems presented more frequently in boys. Depression, headache and abdominal pain occurred at an older age in the full clinic group of children, who came significantly more often from single families.