Mental health in migrant schoolchildren: Teacher-reported behavior and emotional problems

The mental health of migrant children is becoming an increasingly important area of study due to the continued growth of migrant children in Italy The Italian Ministry of Education and University Research (MIUR), and the Foundation for Multi-Ethnic Studies (ISMU) have presented a detailed background on the national school population of non-citizen Italian residents for the academic year of 2010/2011. School enrollment of migrant children increased from 59.389 in 1996/97 to 711.064 in 2010/11. Currently, migrant students make up 7.9% of the total student population in Italy. Primary schools have the highest number of migrant children. A significant gap in promotion rates between Italian and foreign students has been observed, most notably at the secondary school level. Although this gap has closed slightly in the recent past, 30% of non-citizen students were not promoted to the next level in the academic year of 2009/2010. This is about twice the number of Italian secondary school students. The migration process is physically and socially stressful and may lead to mental health problems, particularly in children. There are few Italian studies that address migrant children's mental health. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence and types of emotional and behavioral problems in migrant schoolchildren with those of Italian born children. This study involved migrant (first and second generation) and native schoolchildren attending kindergarten, primary and secondary school. A questionnaire was administrated to teachers in order to gather information regarding family composition, country of birth, age upon arrival in Italy, religion and general level of integration outside the school setting. All teachers filled in the Teacher Self Report (TRS) for migrant and native children. The first of these items look at the child’s participation in sports, hobbies, games, activities, involvement in organizations, jobs, chores, friendships, social interactions during play, independent work, and school functioning. The second section consists of 120 items related to behavioral and/or emotional problems during the preceding six months, rated on a 3-point scale. The main areas of this construct are aggression, hyperactivity, bullying, conduct problems, defiance, and violence. The following behavioral and emotional problems are also measured: aggressive behavior, anxiety/depression, attention problems, delinquent rule-breaking behavior, social problems, somatic complaints, thought problems, withdrawal, externalization, internalization, and general problems. Lower scores on the Academic Performance and Adaptive Functioning Scales indicate lower functioning (Achenbach 1991). Higher scores on the Syndrome, Total Problems, Externalizing and Internalizing Scales indicate higher levels of maladaptive behavior (Achenbach, 1991). The findings of the study show that teachers detect academic and adaptive problems more easily in migrant schoolchildren than in Italian–born natives, but they are probably less aware of their psychological structure. The results of this study demonstrate that migrant children report more problems in adaptive functioning and academic performance, when compared to native-born Italian children. Problems in adaptive functioning and academic performance in migrant children are most likely due to language difficulties and lack of family involvement with the school and its educators. The observations made in this study provide a starting point for the understanding of the psychological structure and the more significant difficulties that migrant children face. This study also underscores the importance of early detection of these problems so that appropriate intervention strategies may be formulated. In Italy it's necessary to develop an intercultural approach that promotes the mental health of migrant children and to develop intervention models for the correct and timely access to the National Health Service (NHS), in respect of different cultural identities and specificity of migrant children.