In the last decades an increasing number of characteristics of the child's life circumstances have been identified as risk factors for mental health problems. Up to now, the natural distribution of these factors in the population has not been systematically investigated. In the Hamburg Health Survey N=1950 children and adolescents between 4 and 18 years of age and their families representative for Germany have been examined. The questionnaire used asks for sociodemographic variables, pregnancy and birth, kindergarten and school attendance, psychosocial burden and utilization of health services. Complications in pregnancy, birth or in the first year of life arise in every fifth child. Severe childhood illnesses, serious accidents, hospital stays for longer than 14 days or early changes of caregivers have 14% of those investigated. Every tenth child has problems in the kindergarten (mostly separation anxiety), every fourth child has problems in school (especially problems in concentration or performance) and 8% suffer from stressful life events (mostly changed family relations). Mental or physical illness and disabilities are found in 8.5% of all families. Although the majority of all children and adolescents live in healthy life circumstances, risk factors are not as rare as to be neglected. Especially the frequency of problems in kindergarten and school as well as stressful life events indicate that preventive interventions are necessary.
