A study of association of behavioral problems with scholastic backwardness in urban lower middle-class school children

INTRODUCTION: Scholastic backwardness is a common phenomenon with multifactorial etiology. Behavioral problems are known to occur in children who are scholastically backward (SB). These may be a part of the broad phenomenon, or may exist in cause and effect relationship with scholastic backwardness. AIMS: The aim of this study is to study the presence of behavioral problems associated with scholastic backwardness in school-going children in Pune cantonment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 300school children aged 8–14 years studying in Class III–IX from two government-aided semi-Marathi schools in Pune cantonment were screened for scholastic backwardness and evaluation of behavioral problems was carried out for positive cases and matched controls. RESULTS: Out of the 28 SB children, behavioral problems were present in 17, giving a prevalence of 60.71%, in comparison with the scholastically normal (SN) group of 50, only 14 of which had behavioral problems, prevalence is 28%. A significant association was found between scholastic backwardness and behavioral problems, which were more prevalent in the SB group compared to matched controls. CONCLUSIONS: Behavioral problems are more prevalent among children who are SB when compared to their SN counterparts. Further research is required to assess in detail whether the behavioral problems are comorbid with scholastic backwardness, lead to scholastic backwardness or occur as a consequence of scholastic backwardness.