Hello, Gibbon1030.

I am assuming that you will be conducting a literature review to answer this question, correct?

Generally speaking, for a literature review you want a research question to be as specific as possible within the parameters of the available research literature. Being specific entails clearly operationalizing the terms of your inquiry. In regards to your specific question, lets look at some things you will need to consider:

1.) "Overdiagnosis" - This is a somewhat difficult concept (by the way, I share your concern about this) because it is difficult to determine when, exactly, over diagnosis occurs. Is it a simple number of diagnoses (two diagnoses is appropriate but three is too many)? Surely this is too simple because it doesn't account for the individual needs of the child. Is it the frequency with which diagnoses are changed (the child is labeled with a different diagnoses from every provider he or she encounters)? This may not be over diagnosis so much as misdiagnosis. Is it a matter of diagnostic labels being applied too readily (a pediatrician labels a child with ADHD when in fact he or she is just energetic and inquisitive)? This might not be over diagnosis so much as a lack of provider competency in assessing mental health. Do you see the potential complications in operationalizing this term? Perhaps we can make some progress by considering how might "over diagnosis" be harmful to a child. We might hypothesize that over diagnosis can be detrimental to a child's wellbeing in a number of ways, including:

a.) over diagnosis may lead to over medication

b.) over diagnosis may lead to increased exposure to the mental / behavioral health service system

c.) over diagnosis may result in different educational pathways (e.g., being placed in self-contained classrooms)

d.) over diagnosis may have a socially stigmatizing effect on the child

e.) over diagnosis may result in the child internalizing these labels and thus influence future behaviors (e.g. "self-fulfilling prophesy")

2.) "mental and physical consequences" - if you think about these terms (mental and physical), they can really be interpreted to include virtually anything, positive or negative, that occurs following an act of diagnostic labeling. It sounds to me like you are most interested in potential risks (negative consequences)

3.) "children can experience as they age" - are you interested in short- to mid-term consequences (e.g., factors that directly impede healthy developmental processes) or long-term consequences (e.g., factors that may manifest themselves in an adult who experienced "over diagnosis" as child). These are going to be interrelated and you may be interested in them both but knowing how to structure your inquiry around these will be important.

I would suggest that you think of some of these possibilities (or others, this is not an exhaustive list) and determine what you are most interested in learning more about. Then, get into the literature and see what you can find.

Two possibilities:

1.) What are the potential risks of using psychotropic medication to treat mental disorders in young children? In your introduction you can contend that over diagnosis may lead to an increased reliance in the use of psychotropic medication. This is a big issue right now and you will find a great deal of very rigorous research (primarily from the field of psychiatry)

2.) Do mental health diagnoses have a stigmatizing effect on adolescents? This will be more exploratory and you will need to be able to connect diverse studies to your question in order to support your position. For instance, you might find a study that indicates that adolescents who have been diagnosed with a mental disorder have a poorer self-image and thus are less likely to initiate social interaction.

Hopefully this can give you some things to think about. Let me know if you run in to any major roadblocks. Good luck!