Dw. Evans et al., RITUAL, HABIT, AND PERFECTIONISM - THE PREVALENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMPULSIVE-LIKE BEHAVIOR IN NORMAL YOUNG-CHILDREN, Child development, 68(1), 1997, pp. 58-68
Young children engage in a significant amount of ritualistic, repetiti
ve, and compulsive-like activity that appears to be part of their norm
al behavioral repertoire. Empirically, little is known about the onset
, prevalence, and developmental trajectory of these phenomena. A paren
t-report questionnaire, the Childhood Routines Inventory (CRI), was de
veloped to assess compulsive-like behavior in young children, and was
administered to 1,492 parents with children between the ages of 8 and
72 months. The CRI has strong overall internal consistency and a disti
nct two-factor structure. The frequency of compulsive-like behaviors c
hanges with age: Two-, 3-, and 4-year-olds engaged in more compulsive
behavior than children younger than 1 year of age and older than 4 yea
rs of age. Results are discussed from a developmental psychopathology
framework and for their implications for future research in this area.