TITLE:
Prevalence of Behavioural and Emotional Problems among Two to Five Years Old Kosovar Preschool Children—Parent’s Report
AUTHORS:
Merita Shala, Milika Dhamo
KEYWORDS:
CBCL; Preschool Children; Behavior Problems; Internalizing; Externalizing
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.12,
December
26,
2013
ABSTRACT: Preschool age is
characterized by a rapid development in all aspects of child development. During
this development, the introduction of emotional and behavioral disorders can
happen to any child. Preschool children have been a neglected population in the
study of psychopathology. The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment
(ASEBA), which includes the Child Behavior Checklist/1.5 - 5 (CBCL/1.5 - 5),
constitutes the few available measures to assess preschoolers with an
empirically derived taxonomy of preschool psychopathology. The study was based
on an age- and gender-stratified sample of 755 children aged 1.5 - 5 years from
five municipalities of Kosovo. The CBCL/1.5 - 5 form was voluntarily completed
by the parents of 426 or 56.4% boys and 329 or 43.6% girls. There were 639 or
84% mothers and 116 or 15.4 % fathers. The prevalence of total problems was
estimated as 2.9%, the prevalence of externalizing behavior problems was 2.5%,
while the prevalence of internalizing behavior problems was 3.8%. These results
are low compared to other international studies. The results revealed that
there are not significant differences in mean scores among boys and girls on
total problems, internalizing and externalizing. Regarding the age, there are
statistical differences within the decreasing of age among the three
broad-bands syndromes. Such findings highlight the way in which preschool
behavior problems may vary within specific cultural settings and underscore the
need for in-depth research to explore the contexts.