Emotional and behavioral problems among school children

Background: Behavioral disorder is a condition that is caused by individuals experiencing changes in their thoughts and emotions which manifest as challenging behaviors.
Objectives: To find out the prevalence rate of behavioral disorders and emotional disorders among school children and the relationship of these disorders with personal variables as well as to socio-demographic factors of the child's family.
Design and Subjects: A cross sectional study was conducted at Baquba City during the educational year 2010-2011. A total of 1500 school children of both male and female were selected by random sampling from nine primary schools. Pupils from the 4th, 5th and 6thof study years at the age between 10-12 years old were included in this study. Revised Rutter Scale (RRS) has been used as a mean for identification and measurement of behavior disorders.
Results: Behavioral disorders were found in 24.6% of the school children. Male to female ratio was (2:1). The overall of prevalence rate of conduct disorder was 13.8%. Males to females ratio was (3.2:1). Whereas The overall of prevalence rate of emotional disorders was 10.8, and the ratio of males to females was (1.2:1). The highest percent (45.7%) for conduct disorder was found among school children in the fifth class, while the highest percent (39.5%) for emotional disorder was found among school children of fourth class. The results also reveal that there is a statistical significant association between behavior disorders and some individual factors related to the child and factors related to his family. In conclusion, the present study showed a significant behavioral disorder among school children. Also there was evidence of complex interaction between individual and family factors.