Quieting a child's streaming tears on the playground might seem far easier than dealing with a sobbing adult. But what about a child who also doesn't enjoy playing anymore, who suffers from chronic stomach aches, or even threatens to kill herself?

    While a number of studies in recent years have found toddlers -- and even babies -- can suffer from major depressive disorder, doctors have debated whether preschool depression was an isolated blip in a child's development or a sign of future problems.

    But according to a new study published Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry, preschoolers can suffer from major depression, and those children are likely to face depression again in elementary school.

    Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis periodically interviewed the parents of 75 children aged 3 to 6 who were diagnosed with major depressive order. When compared to 146 non-depressed children, the preschoolers with depression were four times more likely to have depression one or two years later.

    "These results underscore the clinical and public health importance of identification of depression as early as preschool," the authors wrote.

    The authors pointed out that major depressive disorder in elementary school children is usually difficult to treat, making the need to catch depression early even more urgent.

    "It takes quite a combination of risk factors, including genetic predisposition and environmental and familial factors, to depress a normally jubilant toddler," Rahil Briggs, a professor at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, wrote to ABCNews.com.

    "Children's early experiences become the lenses through which they later view the world. We must be very conscious of their well being during this formative time," Briggs wrote.

    安慰一个操场中大哭的小孩远比流泪的成年人容易，但如果遭受肚子疼或者致命威胁的小孩呢？

    近年来许多研究发现小孩甚至婴儿都能承受较大的压抑，医生们在对学前压抑是孩童期成长的孤立标志还是将来问题的表现还存在争议。

    根据星期一发表在普通精神病学文章中的一项新研究，学前期孩子能承受很大的压抑的在初中也能面对压抑。

    路易斯华盛顿大学的研究人员采访了75位3-6岁孩子的家长，这些孩子被诊断为重要精神压抑混乱症。发现：与146位没有该症状的孩子比，这些学前儿童在1-2年后更倾向于有压抑症的概率是他们的四倍。

    这些结果强调了早于幼儿园时期，压抑症确认临床和公共健康的重要性，作者写到。

    作者指出：初中生患重大压抑混乱的通常更难治疗，这样早期治疗压抑症就显得更加需要。

    导致乐观的孩子变得消沉的因素是由遗传、体质衰弱、环境因素及家庭影响结合形成的。纽约奥利医疗中心的Rahil Briggs教授在ABCNEWS.com中写到。

    中国早期试验成为后来观看世界状况的镜头，我们在这形成时期非常关注。briggs写到。