America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011
Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties
Good emotional and behavioral health enhances a child's sense of well-being, supports satisfying social relationships at home and with peers, and facilitates achievement of full academic potential.120 Children with emotional or behavioral difficulties may have problems managing their emotions, focusing on tasks, and/or controlling their behavior. These difficulties, which may persist throughout a child's development and can lead to lifelong problems, are usually noticed first by parents.121 Parents play a crucial role in informing health professionals about a child's emotional and behavioral difficulties and obtaining mental health services.122
Indicator Health3: Percentage of children ages 4–17 reported by a parent to have serious emotional or behavioral difficulties by gender, 2001–2009
NOTE: Children with serious emotional or behavioral difficulties are defined as those whose parent responded "yes, definite" or "yes, severe" to the following question on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ):123 "Overall, do you think that (child) has difficulties in any of the following areas: emotions, concentration, behavior, or being able to get along with other people?" Response choices were: (1) no; (2) yes, minor difficulties; (3) yes, definite difficulties; (4) yes, severe difficulties. These difficulties may be similar to but do not equate with the Federal definition of serious emotional disturbances (SED), used by the Federal government for planning purposes.
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey.
- In 2009, slightly more than 5 percent of children ages 4–17 were reported by a parent to have serious difficulties with emotions, concentration, behavior, or being able to get along with other people.
- Between 2001 and 2009, the percentage of children with serious emotional or behavioral difficulties remained stable at about 5 percent.
- In 2009, the percentage of children with serious emotional or behavioral difficulties differed by gender. More males (7 percent) than females (4 percent) ages 4–17 years were reported by a parent to have such difficulties.
- In 2009, 8 percent of children living below the poverty level and 7 percent of children in families with incomes 100–199 percent of the poverty level had serious emotional or behavioral difficulties, compared with 4 percent of children with family incomes 200 percent or more of the poverty level.
- Among the parents of children with serious difficulties, 26 percent reported that their child received special education services for emotional or behavioral difficulties, 40 percent reported that they had contacted a general doctor about their child's emotional or behavioral difficulties, and 45 percent reported that they had contact with a mental health professional about their child's difficulties.
HEALTH3.A HTML Table, HEALTH3.B HTML Table
120 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html.
121 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. (2003). Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America. Final Report (DHHS Pub. No. SMA-03-3832). Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services.
122 Sayal, K. (2006). Annotation: Pathways to care for children with mental health problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 649–659.
123 Goodman, R. (1999). The extended version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a guide to child psychiatric caseness and consequent burden. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 791–799.