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Objective: One in one hundred minors has some mental health problem. Symptomatology varies according to gender. Most research has been conducted with the general population. The objective of this paper was to analyze the moderating role of sex in the presence of internalizing (emotional disorders, anxiety and depression) and externalizing symptomatology (behavioral disorders and hyperactivity) in childhood, as well as to compare the general population with the clinical population., Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 552 boys and girls between ten and twelve years of age, 94 mental health patients and 458 schoolchildren. Participants completed self-report measures: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Cas), Modified Depression Scale (MDS) and a sociodemographic information questionnaire. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and multivariate and univariate mean comparisons were performed by parametric and re-sampling procedures., Results: Statistically significant differences were observed between clinical and school population groups in externalizing, internalizing and depressive symptomatology (p<0.001). No sex differences were found in externalizing and depressive symptomatology. Sex differences were found in internalizing symptoms (p<0.001, p boot <0.001) as well as group interaction effects (p=0.016), girls had higher scores than boys, with greater differences in the clinical group (p<0.001, p boot =0.003)., Conclusions: Research with mental health patients is essential to verify the existence or not of differences with the general population as well as differences by sex, which will allow adapting preventive and intervention strategies to each case., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

This paper studied the relationship between stressful life events (SLE) and psychological symptoms (externalizing and internalizing symptomatology) and school and family adaptation in childhood. Participants were 552, 53.4% boys and 46.6% girls, aged between 10-12 years. Patients receiving treatment in mental health services and a community group were compared. At least one SLE in the past two years is experienced by 88.2% of children. SLE were significantly higher in the clinical group than in the community group. SLE are related to the increased presence of symptoms and lower levels of adaptation. The association between family SLE and hyperactivity symptoms is stronger in the clinical group than in the community group. Having experienced SLE and being a patient predict both symptomatology and adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]