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Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal

The role of migration as a determinant in child mental health has been demonstrated in a number of studies. However, results are not always consistent, and the research continues to be scarce, especially in Portugal. We examined the association between sociodemographic profiles and the chance for th...

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Autores principales: Muggli, Zélia, Mertens, Thierry, -Sá, Silva, Amado, Regina, Teixeira, Ana L., Vaz, Dora, O. Martins, Maria Rosário
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7825293/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33418982
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020375
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author Muggli, Zélia
Mertens, Thierry
-Sá, Silva
Amado, Regina
Teixeira, Ana L.
Vaz, Dora
O. Martins, Maria Rosário
author_facet Muggli, Zélia
Mertens, Thierry
-Sá, Silva
Amado, Regina
Teixeira, Ana L.
Vaz, Dora
O. Martins, Maria Rosário
author_sort Muggli, Zélia
collection PubMed
description The role of migration as a determinant in child mental health has been demonstrated in a number of studies. However, results are not always consistent, and the research continues to be scarce, especially in Portugal. We examined the association between sociodemographic profiles and the chance for the development of emotional and behavioral difficulties in a group of 420 children, immigrant (n = 217) and born in Portugal to Portuguese born parents (n = 203). We used a structured questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic information and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Descriptive statistics were used to characterize children and their families; variables were compared between groups using the Chi-squared, Fisher’s Exact Test, or the Mann–Whitney U test and logistic regression was used to analyze the association between socio-demographic factors and emotional and behavioral difficulties. Results showed a pattern of social and mental health inequalities with immigrant children at a disadvantage: they are more often part of families with low income and where parents had low skilled jobs. Internalizing behaviors are more frequent in immigrants than in children born in Portugal to Portuguese-born parents (p = 0.001) whereas a high total SDQ difficulties score (p = 0.039) and externalizing behaviors were more frequent in 1st generation immigrant children (p = 0.009). A low family income (aOR 4.5; 95% CI: 1.43–13.95), low parental education level (aOR 2.5; 95% CI: 1.11–5.16), and being a first-generation immigrant child (aOR 2.2; 95% CI: 1.06–4.76) increased significantly the chance of developing emotional and behavioral difficulties. This study contributes to the identification of children vulnerable to mental health problems who can benefit from monitoring, early detection and preventive interventions in order to mitigate possible negative outcomes in the future.
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spelling pubmed-78252932021-01-24 Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal Muggli, Zélia Mertens, Thierry -Sá, Silva Amado, Regina Teixeira, Ana L. Vaz, Dora O. Martins, Maria Rosário Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The role of migration as a determinant in child mental health has been demonstrated in a number of studies. However, results are not always consistent, and the research continues to be scarce, especially in Portugal. We examined the association between sociodemographic profiles and the chance for the development of emotional and behavioral difficulties in a group of 420 children, immigrant (n = 217) and born in Portugal to Portuguese born parents (n = 203). We used a structured questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic information and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Descriptive statistics were used to characterize children and their families; variables were compared between groups using the Chi-squared, Fisher’s Exact Test, or the Mann–Whitney U test and logistic regression was used to analyze the association between socio-demographic factors and emotional and behavioral difficulties. Results showed a pattern of social and mental health inequalities with immigrant children at a disadvantage: they are more often part of families with low income and where parents had low skilled jobs. Internalizing behaviors are more frequent in immigrants than in children born in Portugal to Portuguese-born parents (p = 0.001) whereas a high total SDQ difficulties score (p = 0.039) and externalizing behaviors were more frequent in 1st generation immigrant children (p = 0.009). A low family income (aOR 4.5; 95% CI: 1.43–13.95), low parental education level (aOR 2.5; 95% CI: 1.11–5.16), and being a first-generation immigrant child (aOR 2.2; 95% CI: 1.06–4.76) increased significantly the chance of developing emotional and behavioral difficulties. This study contributes to the identification of children vulnerable to mental health problems who can benefit from monitoring, early detection and preventive interventions in order to mitigate possible negative outcomes in the future. MDPI 2021-01-06 2021-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7825293/ /pubmed/33418982 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020375 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Muggli, Zélia
Mertens, Thierry
-Sá, Silva
Amado, Regina
Teixeira, Ana L.
Vaz, Dora
O. Martins, Maria Rosário
Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal
title Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal
title_full Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal
title_fullStr Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal
title_full_unstemmed Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal
title_short Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal
title_sort migration as a determinant in the development of children emotional and behavior problems: a quantitative study for lisbon region, portugal
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7825293/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33418982
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020375
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