Behaviour and emotional problems of clinic referred children of the African diaspora

ABSTRACT

Several factors determine behaviour problem types children exhibit, and actions adults (eg, parents) subsequently take. Factors include children's sociocultural background and clinicians' professional training. Cross-national research on children of similar heritage (eg, the African Diaspora) living in different cultures can address sociocultural issues associated with child psychopathology, but few cross-cultural studies focus on children of African descent. This study begins addressing these issues by surveying clinic records of 696 African American and Jamaican children aged 4-18 years. Trained recorders reviewed clinic records and recorded youngsters' presenting problems. By matching youngsters' problem to the widely used Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) items, recorders coded and summed problems according to eight CBCL syndromes, internalising, externalising problems, other CBCL-, and non-CBCL problems. Stepwise regression revealed that African American youngsters scored higher on the Somatization syndrome only, a child problem type the Jamaican culture seems to tolerate.(AU)