Abstract

26 preterm children, at middle-low risk for neuro-psychological problems, were followed from birth to age 5 in order: 1) to make a diagnostic profile of the children in preschool-age; 2) to evaluate the predictive capacity of neonatal risk-factors and of attachment with respect to the emergence of psychopathology. The results show psychopathological disorders, according to ICD-10, in more than one-third of children (38,5%) at age 5 and that there is also a high incidence (65,4%) of mother-child relational disorders (according to DC: 0-3). None of the neonatal risk-factors analyzed (birth-weight; gestational age; SGA; prenatal and perinatal difficulties, length of hospitalization) proved to be predictive of the emergence of pathology. Length of hospitalization was associated with relational disorders. Disorganized-disoriented attachment to the mother at 12, and the reorganization of attachment towards insecurity, significantly predict the emergence of children psychopathology during preschool-age.