Emotional and Behavioral Problems among Preschool Children
Authors: Al-Mossawy Dhafer Ameen J. , Al-Tameemi Hussein Mansour Ali , Husaine Jawad Kadhim Mohammed 
Published: June 2023

It is essential to recognize the rapid pace of growth and maturation from birth to age 5, which has multiple implications for assessment and treatment. For the primary types of problem behaviour discussed in this chapter (i.e., disruptive and emotional problems), identification and diagnosis based purely on child behaviour have been shown to have limited stability and prognostic implications until at least 24 months of age. Objectives To assess psychological issues (behaviour and psychological problems) among preschool children and To find out the relationship between psychological issues with child and parent personal characteristics (age, gender, father life, mother live, father job, mother job, level of education, residence area, and monthly income). Methodology A descriptive design cross-sectional study was carried out throughout the present study to identify psychological issues among preschool children, starting from 1st February 2018 to 1st May 2018 in Najaf city. A non-probability purposive sample of (269) children with psychological issues among preschool children, who were children of the schools of education directorate at Najaf. The data are collected through the use utilization of the developed questionnaire and utilizing a checklist technique, which consists of two parts (1) A socio-demographic characteristics form that consists of 10 items (2) Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4) is a DSM-IV-referenced rating scale that screens for emotional and behavioural symptoms of childhood disorders. Parent (97 items) and teacher versions (77 items). The CSI-4: Parent Checklist contains screens for 15 emotional and behavioural disorders, and the CSI-4: Teacher Checklist contains screens for 13 emotional and behavioural disorders. The CSI-4 can be scored to derive Symptom Count Scores or Symptom Severity scores. The reliability of the questionnaire is determined through a pilot study and the validity through a panel of (15) experts. Results The findings of the present study indicate that preschool children's socio-characteristics affect the emotional and behavioural problems domains. The maximal effect is presented by the father and mother characteristics domains. There is a significant relationship between a live father, alive mother, father job, and mother job with emotional and behavioural symptoms of childhood disorders domains. There is a non-significant relationship between the age of the child, gender, class number, and sequence of a child with emotional and behavioural symptoms of childhood disorders domains. Conclusion: The study concludes that the emotional and behavioural symptoms of childhood disorders most commonly occurs among preschool children in male than in the female child. Emotional and behavioural problems in children most occur at the age of five years. Behavioural problems in children do not affect a child's age, gender, and sequence. Also, the study confirmed that the behavioral problems of children affect negatively the parent's jobs. Recommendations The study recommends providing support for families of children with emotional and behavioural problems, especially psychological ones, and working on introducing caregivers to know wide information about the early detection of emotional and behavioural problems in children to prevent them and ways to deal with behaviours of odd and Family to Family Education Programs to existing services in community mental health programs. And health-oriented mass media approach should be employed by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to increase population knowledge and awareness about emotional and behavioural problems among preschool children.