Mental Health Status Among School Students from Foreign Countries-An Epidemiological Study Conducted in A City with A Large Community of South Americans-

2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21791127
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: MURAKI Hiroko Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 特任研究員 (80535576)
• Research Collaborator: TSUCHIYA Kenji 浜松医科大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 特任准教授 ; MATSUMOTO Masami 学校法人ムンド, デ・アレグリア校長 ; OKA Noriko 学校法人ムンド, デ・アレグリア教員
• Project Period (FY): 2009 – 2010
• Keywords: 疫学 / メンタルヘルス / 在日外国人 / 子ども

Research Abstract

Objective : Mental health of foreign-born school-age students are generally regarded as poor in Japan. To estimate need for mental health support among those children, we examined mental health as well as related factors including school-readiness of children of a school for Latin-American children in Hamamatsu, Japan.
Method : The participants were 166 children (age : 4 to 17 years, male-female ratio : 90:76), including 41 Peruvians and 125 Brazilians. To assess mental health and school-readiness, we adopted the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, scored by teachers in charge of the participating children.
Results : Among 166 children, 20 children (12%) were considered to have mental health problem. For those aged 4 to 10 years, boys showed a significantly higher proportion of those with the problem than did girls. However, the proportion was high and showed no difference between boys and girls. The detail analysis of mental health problems indicated that those with definite emotional problems (anxiety and depression), in spite of a low percentage among the participating children (2%), were more likely to have difficulties in learning (42%) than was thought by the teachers in charge (22%). Among children showing "absenteeism" (N=9), no children were assessed to have mental health problem. The reasons for absenteeism were thought to derive from language difficulties in a former school.
Conclusion : Proportion of those with mental health problem that is required to be intervened is high (12%) in children at a school for foreign-born students. The demand for help or intervention for those children should be considered higher than teachers would estimate.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Postpartum depression and prepregnancy BMI : the HBC Study. (2010)
  • Author(s): Mori T, Tsuchiya KJ, Matsumoto K, Muraki H, Takahashi S, Takabayashi R, Suzuki Y, Sato R, Narumiya M, Takei N, the HBC Study Team.
  • Organizer: Longitudinal and Life Course Studies 1 (suppl 3) : 372
  • Place of Presentation: conference roceeding
  • Year and Date: 20100000
• [Remarks] ホームページ等