Prevalence of Psychosocial Problems among School-going Children aged 4-10 Years: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: A substantial proportion of the Indian population comprises children under 15 years of age. The prevalence of psychosocial disorders in children is increasing, coinciding with a decrease in infection-related morbidities. Psychosocial disorders may not only have short-term effects but also have long-lasting effects on the child’s well-being. Aim: To assess the prevalence of psychosocial disorders in children aged 4-10 years and compare it before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted as an online survey originating from Rukmani Birla Hospital, a tertiary care centre in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. A total of 171 children aged between 4-10 years were included in the study, from February 2021 to June 2021. A structured survey questionnaire was distributed using Google Forms. The Childhood Psychopathological Measurement Schedule (CPMS) was used to assess psychosocial problems in children. CPMS scoring was performed for both the pre-pandemic period (before March 2020) and the post-pandemic period (from March 2020 until the form was filled out) for the same children. The Chi-square test was used to compare the association of demographic variables with the CPMS score. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean age of the children was 6.82±2.06 years, with 47.4% (81/171) being females. A majority of the children, 158 (92.4%), were from an urban setting. The average CPMS score significantly increased from 6.66±7.46 to 11.9±10.8 (p-value <0.05) after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, 28 (16.37%) children had an abnormal CPMS score, while after the pandemic, 73 (42.69%) had an abnormal score. Prior to the pandemic, 96 (56.14%) children had a screen time of 1-2 hours per day, but after the pandemic, 94 (55%) had a screen time of more than four hours. Psychosocial problems were significantly higher in nuclear families before the pandemic (p-value <0.05) and significantly higher in children with increased screen time after the pandemic (p-value <0.01). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in psychosocial disorders among children. There is an urgent need to address these issues in children at an early stage so that early interventions can be implemented.

Keywords

• anxiety
• behavioural disorder
• depression
• pandemic
• childhood psychopathological measurement schedule score