Psychosocial Problems among Children in Difficult Circumstances

Authors

  • K Sekar Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, NIMHANS, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
  • P Kavitha Project coordinator, NIMHANS- Every Child project on Enriching Psychosocial Competencies among Children by NGO’s in South India, Bangalore, India;

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12724/ajss.33.4

Keywords:

Children in difficult circumstances, Psychosocial care, Behaviour problem, Adjustment, Self-esteem

Abstract

Childhood is the most important phase in a person’s life. The conducive environment available during this stage of life determines positive psychosocial development of an individual. The current study was conducted among 338 children in difficult circumstances to assess the stress, behaviour problem, adjustment in the areas of home, school, teachers, general and peers and self esteem. The results of the study brought out that, children in difficult circumstances undergo moderate to high stress. These children also exhibited higher behaviour problems which is antisocial and neurotic in nature. The adjustment is poor, especially, in the areas of general adjustment, teacher and school. The self esteem is also found to be average to poor. The results highlight the need for psychosocial interventions which are curative, preventive and promotive in nature to address the problems experienced by the children.

Author Biographies

K Sekar, Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, NIMHANS, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, NIMHANS, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

P Kavitha, Project coordinator, NIMHANS- Every Child project on Enriching Psychosocial Competencies among Children by NGO’s in South India, Bangalore, India;

Project coordinator, NIMHANS- Every Child project on Enriching Psychosocial Competencies among Children by NGO’s in South India

References

Amato, Paul R. (2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the next generation. The future of children, 15(2), 75-96.

Brown, Susan L. (2004). Family structure and child well‐being: the significance of parental cohabitation. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66(2), 351-367.

Cook, Alexandra, Spinazzola, Joseph, Ford, Julian, Lanktree, Cheryl, Blaustein, Margaret, Cloitre, Marylene, Kold, Bessel van der. (2005). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric Annals, 35:5. Hagemann,F., Diallo,Y., Etienne, A., &Mehran,F.(2006). Global child labour trends 2000 to 2004: International Labour Office.

Hawker, David SJ, & Boulton, Michael J. (2000). Twenty years' research on peer victimization and psychosocial maladjustment: a meta‐analytic review of cross‐sectional studies. Journal of child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41(4), 441-455.

ILO. (2004). Child Labour and response-Overview note South Asia. Joseph, P.(2007). Self Esteem Among Street Children in Chennai City. Retrived 08/10/2013, from Articlesbase.com http://www.articlesbase.com/non-profit-organisations-articles/self-esteem-among-street-children-in-chennai-city-166923.html

Kavitha.P, Sekar.K, & Raj.W. (2012). Psychosocial Care for Children in Difficult Circumstances-A Community Based Approach. National Journal of Professional Social Work, 13(1-2), 28-41.

Mock, Nancy, & de Buhr, Elke. (2009). Children in Difficult Circumstances Maternal and Child Health (pp. 479-496): Springer.

Moolakatt, C J, & George, S. (2012). Adolescent Children of Alcoholics: Social Work Response. Global Academic Society Journal: Social Science Insight, 5(4), 12 - 18.

Reijntjes, Albert, Kamphuis, Jan H, Prinzie, Peter, & Telch, Michael J. (2010). Peer victimization and internalizing problems in children: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Child abuse & neglect, 34(4), 244-252.

S. Khurana, N. Sharma, Shivananda Jena, Saha, R., & Ingle, G.K. (2004). Mental Health Status of Runaway Adolescents. Indian Journal of Pediatrics,, 71(5), 405-409].

SAARC, & UNICEF. (2001-2010). Assessment of Progress in the SAARC Decade of the Rights of the Child Sawyer, M.G.,Arney, F.M., Baghrust, P.A., Clark, J.J., Greatz, B.W., Kosky, R.J., Zubrick, S.R. (2001). The mental health of young people in Australia: Key findings from the child and adolescent component of the national survey of mental health and wellbeing. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35 (6), 806-814.

Sekar.k, Kavitha.p, Roncalli, T. Arul, Aravindraj, E., Kumar, Sanjeev, & Babu, Sudhir. (2012). Psychosocial care for chidlren in difficult circumstances. Bangalore: NIMHANS.

Skinner, Donald, Tsheko, N, Mtero-Munyati, S, Segwabe, M, Chibatamoto, P, Mfecane, S, . . . Chitiyo, G. (2006). Towards a definition of orphaned and vulnerable children. AIDS and Behavior, 10(6), 619-626.

UNICEF. (2003). Training Handbook on Psychosocial Counselling for Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances, A trainer’s Guide. Kathmandu, Nepal. UNICEF. (2005). The state of the worlds children 2006: Excluded and invisible: Unicef.

UNICEF. (2012). Child Marriage in India. An analysis of available data (2012). New Delhi

Xue, Yange, Leventhal, Tama, Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, &Earls, Felton J. (2005). Neighborhood residence and mental health problems of 5 to 11 year olds. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(5), 554-563.

Downloads

Published

2015-04-01

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2015): Artha Journal of Social Sciences

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2016 Artha - Journal of Social Sciences

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.