Trichotillomania in childhood.

Several aspects of trichotillomania in childhood are described and discussed. Case records of twenty-one children not older than 15 years of age, who were seen in the previous 5 years, were examined. The female/male ratio was 2.5:1 (fifteen girls and six boys); the age range was 2 to 15 years. Although trichotillomania may, at first sight, often impress as an apparently inexplicable persistent habit, further analysis shows that this symptom often develops in a climate of psychosocial stress in the family, e.g., hospitalizations of child or mother, the additional stress inherent in moving to a new house, or developmental problems such as sibling rivalry, inability to focus activities and play in the younger child, and school problems in the older child.