[Association of the behavior problems of school-age children with gender, age and registered permanent residence].

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether and how the prevalence of behavior problems among the school-age children are associated with their gender, age and registered permanent residence. METHODS: The behavior problems in 2156 children were estimated with the aid of Rutter Parent Questionnaire (RA2) and Rutter Teacher Questionnaire (RB2) from September to October 2004. RESULTS: The prevalence rates of children having behavior problems were 13.5% in RA2 and 13.8% in RB2, and these were higher in boys than in girls (RA21.79; RB2 2.82). According to parents' and teachers' assessments, the highest positive rates in grades were 16.3% in grade 2 and 15.1% in grade 4, and the highest positive rates among the three groups of permanent residence were 16.3% in rural children and 19.5% in urban pupils. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, the significant positive correlates were male, urban for antisocial behavior and male for neurotic behavior in RA2, and male, urban and higher grade for all behavior problems in RB2. CONCLUSION: The detected rate of behavior problems among school-age children in Zhejiang province was higher than that reported by other researchers. The differences of gender, age, and registered permanent residence were significant in both RA2 and RB2. Male, urban and higher grade children should be an important group of school-age children in need of guidance with mental health.