Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Aug 2020)
Behavioural Problems Amongst Pre-School Children in Chongqing, China: Current Situation and Influencing Factors
Abstract
Yao Yu,1,2,* Ting Wang,3,* Jiyu Liang,3 Chenlu Yang,3 Haozhuo Wang,3 Xin Zhao,4 Jiajun Zhang,1 Weiwei Liu3 1Faculty of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, People’s Republic of China; 2Collaborative Innovation Platform of 0-6-Year-Old Children’s Development and Education Network, Chongqing University of Education, Chongqing 400067, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Public Health and Management, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, People’s Republic of China; 4Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Center for Functional Food, Chongqing Engineering Research Center of Functional Food, Chongqing Engineering Laboratory for Research and Development of Functional Food, Chongqing University of Education, Chongqing 400067, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jiajun Zhang; Weiwei Liu Tel +86-23-6848-5008Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Behavioural problems in pre-school children are closely related to their mental health. Such problems include attention deficit, personality disorder, overdependency, poor adaptability and conduct problems.Methods: From December 2018 to January 2019, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of parents of pre-schoolers. The survey covered sixteen kindergartens in six districts of Chongqing, China. A total of 2200 participants participated in the survey, and 1895 questionnaires were returned. After screening, 1496 valid questionnaires were compiled in the data analysis (n=1496).Results: Analysis of the maximum likelihood estimation revealed that age, preterm birth, household income, amount of daily interaction with parents, and scolding frequency affected behavioural problems in the pre-schoolers. Behavioural problems tend to be attenuated as children grow. Preterm children had a higher probability of developing behavioural problems than did non-preterm children. Children from families with monthly household incomes between $1130–$1695 USD and $1696–$2260 USD were more prone to developing behavioural problems. Children whose parents spent less time interacting with them (39.26% of parents interacted with children less than 1 hour per day) and children who were scolded more often had greater behavioural problems (13.44% of parents often scolded their children).Discussion: This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of parenting methods on pre-school children and the education provided by parents on their pre-school children’s behavioural problems to provide insights for Chinese parents and mental health professionals to improve treatment of behavioural problems.Keywords: behavioural problems, pre-school children, parental education, China
