Education Guide

According to unpublished research Project Attention Brazil, explanation lies in better social skills and their mental health index

Thelma Torrecilha, especially for iG

For the first time, the mental health of children and adolescents in Brazil was evaluated by a scientific study. Project Attention Brazil researchers analyzed the behavior of boys and girls from different states in the country and concluded that female students are 59% more likely to achieve an above average school performance than males.

They say that the explanation lies in the behavior and how both deal with the emotions. The girls have higher rates of mental health. The study found that boys are more prone to emotional difficulties, behavioral problems and social skills. The lower rates of mental health in 70% of them increase the risk of poor academic performance.

Data are from Brazil Warning Project, a population study developed by the Institute Glia, Ribeirão Preto (SP), in collaboration with researchers at the University La Sapienza (Italy) and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (U.S.). For the president of the Institute Glia and research coordinator, neurologist childhood Marco Antonio Arruda, the superior performance provided by school social skills and higher rates of mental health of the girls was an important finding.

“With regard to school performance, the girls win in a landslide. The research surprised, because it showed the girls their own behavioral characteristics, which interfere with school performance. They think before acting, complete tasks, are more resilient, proactive, “he said.

According to the survey, girls show a pro-social behavior, are liked by other children, have at least one good friend and consideration for people’s feelings. Since the boys do not like sharing toys and sweets, have tantrums, lie or cheat, fight and often frightened colleagues.

We interviewed parents and teachers of 9,149 children and adolescents from 81 cities in 16 states of the Federation. The researchers collected and analyzed data from children and adolescents of both sexes, 5 to 18 years old, attending regular classes in the 1st year of elementary school to 3rd year of secondary education in private and public schools in urban and rural areas.

The final survey sample was 5,961 children and adolescents, because we considered only the completed questionnaires, answered by parents and teachers.

Broader concepts
The study shows statistically significant differences between boys and girls. According to Arruda, this is the most extensive sampling of the mental health of the child population in Brazil, besides confirming that international studies revealed important data.

“It’s the first time a national survey has this dimension, confirming the difference between boys and girls. Boys have more mental disorders, this is nothing new. But mental health is a broader concept, is not merely the absence of mental disorder. The child may have a low rate of mental health even when not present any disorder, “he said.

The difficulties presented by children and adolescents, such as conduct problems and with peers, hyperactivity and inattention are warning signs for parents and the educational system of the country The damages caused by the difficulties of everyday mental health of children and adolescents are called “impact” by doctors.

The study identified risk factors and protective factors that can direct action to prevent, minimize or reverse impacts on children’s mental health. The results, as well as a series of recommendations for school and family were gathered in a booklet that will be launched at the end of the week, during the Third Congress Learning Child, in Ribeirão Preto.

The survey showed that among boys, the impact of difficulties in everyday life, creating emotional problems, behavior or conduct, for example, was 14%, while for girls was 10%. That is, they are more affected than they, in general, because they are less able to cope with difficulties. The risk of poor school performance in these cases is 580% higher. “The greater the number of difficulties and the greater the impact, the greater the difference in the school,” he said.

In addition to underperform at school, the harm caused by low rates of mental health of girls and boys are reflected in family life in the school context and social life. These indices also point to the propensity of these children to develop some mental disorder throughout life.

Halfway between rich and poor countries
Among the 5,961 children and adolescents of both sexes, 32.6% had difficulties. Boys have higher rates of difficulties (29.4%), with emotional problems (36.7%), behavioral (31%), colleagues (26.9) and hyperactivity (19.3).

According to Arruda, 12.7% of Brazilian children eventually develop emotional problems, or conduct, because of the impact of the difficulties in routine mental health. With this index, Brazil is in an intermediate position between rich and poor countries: India (15%), Puerto Rico (16.4%) and China (12%), United States (8.4%), Britain ( 8.8%) and Norway (7%).

“The percentage of problems is similar, with minor variations. The impact is different, this is the important factor. From them, we go for good prevention programs, early identification of difficulties. Parents with good education are better able to prevent the development impact, “said Arruda.

According to the neurologist, the unpreparedness of parents, lack of education and information, is closely linked to social issues of childhood and poor school performance. And teachers, who often spend more hours a day with the children than their parents, can play an important role in identifying those warnings and seeking help for boys and girls.

From parents to children
Research has shown that tobacco use by pregnant women increases the chances of low rates of mental health (180%) and school performance (170%) children. The use of alcohol during pregnancy also increases the risk of compromising academic performance (150%) and even more disastrous for the mental health (240%).

Children are exposed to risks that significantly strengthen the chances of low rates of mental health. Living in large city (over 500,000 inhabitants) increased by 130% to be a child of divorced parents, 50%, and grow away from the father and mother, 420%.

The study of Child Care Project provides a very important statistic to explain the poor school performance of children and adolescents: the educational level of heads of households.

Comparing a son of illiterate parents or to the elementary school with a child of parents with higher education, the chance that child have a poorly performing school is 680% higher.

I am working as an editor of elections in Portal iG, no time to devote myself to blog. As the issues of childhood nostalgia was great, I decided to give the soup an education editor.

I can not participate in the Child Learning Congress, as intended, but I will discuss other details of the very interesting research on the mental health of Brazilian children here on the blog.