Study On Emotional And Behavioral Problems And Influencing Factors Among Preschool Children In Rural Areas Of Anhui Province

Objective: Emotional and behavioral problems are common mental health problems for children,which tend to be stable in the preschool period.Early identification and intervention of children’s emotional and behavioral problems requires a comprehensive understanding of related influencing factors.A cross-sectional research was conducted to survey the emotional and behavioral problems among preschool children in rural areas of Anhui Province,to explore demographic characteristics,left-behind status,level of screen time,sleep problems,eating behavior problems,autistic tendencies,resilience,caregiver anxiety and family functional status which may affect preschool children’s emotional and behavioral problems,providing scientific basis for early prevention and intervention of emotional and behavioral problems of preschool children.Methods: A convenient sampling method was adopted to select 3636 preschool children from 26 kindergartens in the rural areas as the survey subjects.According to the cultural of caregivers,the questionnaire survey was in the form of self-filled or face-to-face interviews.The contents of the questionnaire included general demographics,left-behind status,screen time,sleep problems,eating behavior problems,autistic tendency,resilience,caregivers’ anxiety and family function status.Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 23.0 software.Results: The detection rate of emotional and behavioral problems in 3636 preschool children is 55.67%,the detection rate of the each dimension problem is from high to low:peer relationship problems(38.94%),hyperactivity/inattention(16.45%),conduct problems(13.64),prosocial behavior problems(13.59%)and emotional symptoms(11.61%).The results of multivariate logistic analysis showed as following.Girls,whether preschool children are picky,have sleep problems or autism tendency,parental education attitudes are often inconsistent,the main way of education is beating and scolding,and the caregivers have anxiety symptoms are risk factors for emotional symptoms;the mother’s age is ≥35 years old and the family’s monthly income is ≥￥5,000 are protective factors for emotional symptoms.Whether preschool children are picky,have sleep problems or eating behavior problems or autism tendency,the main way of education is letting go,and the caregivers have anxiety symptoms are risk factors for conduct problems;the average/good resilience is a protective factor for conduct problems.Whether preschool children are picky,have eating behavior problems or autism tendency,parental education attitudes are often inconsistent,and the main educational way is beating and scolding are risk factors for hyperactivity/inattention;girls,non-only children,fathers have college degree or above,and the average/good resilience are protective factors for hyperactivity/inattentive.Whether preschool children are picky,hospitalization for the past year,have autism tendency,the main educational way is letting go,the caregivers have mild anxiety symptoms and family dysfunction are risk factors for peer relationship problems;girls,aging,non-only children,mothers with junior high school education or above,and average/good resilience are protective factors for peer relationship problems.The current left-behind state,the main way of education is letting go or beating and scolding and severe family dyfunction are risk factors for prosocial behavior problems;girls and average/good resilience are protective factors for prosocial behavior problems.Conclusions: The most serious emotional and behavioral problems of preschool children in rural areas in Anhui Province are peer relationship problems,hyperactivity/inattention and the total difficulty.The emotional and behavioral problems of preschool children are comprehensively affected by demographic characteristics,family factors,physical and mental health and other factors.Research suggests that health education activities in rural areas need to be carried out urgently.A variety of measures through the family,kindergarten and government or social to jointly prevent and control could reduce the occurrence of emotional and behavioral problems among preschool children.