| Abstract [eng] |
Factors of mental health of 2-5 years old children: analysis of Lithuanian research (data) SUMMARY Currently an exclusive role in our society is occupied by children‘s mental health problems . Social scientists have become increasingly interested in better understanding of preventive and psychological risk factors for children‘s mental health. Mental health problems in preschool children are topical but there are a few studies, focused on them. Early emotional and behavioral problems can determine mental health problems later. It is important to know the factors of mental health in order to prevent serious emotional and behavioral problems by intervening at the youngest ages. The purpose of our research was to assess and to describe relations of factors of mental health to emotional and behavioral problems. Mental health problems were coded using the items of the CBCL for ages 1 to 5 (CBCL/1 ½ -5), Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF/1 ½ -5) and a questionnaire of the micro – environment of a child (Jusienė R. ir kt., 2007) in order to get information about the micro-environment of a child. The research has been conducted on 1047 children. Later 971 children were separated out – 510 boys and 461 girls. All the children were aged between 2 and 5 years. The findings from our research have shown that populated locality, parents‘background, maternal employment, family income, family structure, unintentional physical injuries, emotional, health or speech problems and levels of television viewing predict 2 – 5 years old children‘s emotional and behavioral problems. The character of preschool children‘s mental health is dependent on psychological peculiarity of the age period and gender differences in question. |
