Behavioral and Mental Health Problems in Children: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Pediatric Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2025 | Viewed by 2277

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Women's Hospital, Center for Tobacco Control Research, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: health behavior theory; tobacco control; public health; mental stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The stimulus, stress, and behavioral and mental response (SSB) model proposes that various stimuli induce stress and behavioral responses, which in turn may lead to health problems. With rapid social development and change, social competition is intensifying, causing significant mental stress to young people, which prevents them from raising their own children effectively. This situation poses a great challenge to child raising. Children are a vulnerable population in crisis. Approaches to address this problem need to be based on high-quality scientific research to understand the root causes and determine effective approaches to reduce behavioral and mental health problems.

The research included in this Special Issue has three main objectives. The primary research goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the social and behavioral mechanisms leading to BMPC. A second goal is to develop behavioral and mental health promotion strategies and policies among children, which refer to specialized policy research. A third goal is to design and examine the effect of an intervention program on BMPC. It should be stressed that we give very low priority to studies regarding the general demographic and individual characteristics of BMPC. We believe that the information obtained from this study could be used to inform health policy, plan prevention strategies, and design and implement appropriate, targeted interventions to help reduce behavioral and mental health problems in children.

This Special Issue is seeking cutting-edge research and studies exploring the population mechanism and family- and school-level intervention.

We welcome submissions on the following subtopics, including, but not limited to:

  1. Exploring the social and behavioral mechanisms leading to BMPC. It should be emphasized that this process should be implemented under the guidance of existing theories rather than based on statistical mediation correlations among related factors, which is currently very prevalent in psychology.
  2. Examining contextual influences on BMPC under the SSB model, such as contextual stress, parenting, and BMPC.
  3. Uncertainty stress studies, including the status, population mechanism, and coping strategies of participants, as well as their influence on health.
  4. Policy studies that can be used to develop behavioral and mental health promotion strategies and policies.
  5. Identifying and reducing BMPC inequities.
  6. Designing and examining the effect of intervention programs on BMPC.

Prof. Dr. Tingzhong Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • children
  • behavioral problems
  • mental health

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 502 KiB  
Article
Intervention Effects of Group Sandplay Therapy on Children at Risk of Smartphone Addiction: Focusing on Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in the Korean Youth Self Report
by Yang Hee Lee, Heajin Shin, Eunju Bae, Youngil Lee, Chang Min Lee, Se Hoon Shim, Min Sun Kim and Myung Ho Lim
Children 2025, 12(5), 593; https://doi.org/10.3390/children12050593 - 1 May 2025
Abstract
Objectives: this study examined the intervention effects of group sandplay therapy (GST) on children at risk of smartphone addiction. Methods: The participants consisted of 113 elementary school students in grades 5 and 6 (ages 11–12), with 57 in the intervention group [...] Read more.
Objectives: this study examined the intervention effects of group sandplay therapy (GST) on children at risk of smartphone addiction. Methods: The participants consisted of 113 elementary school students in grades 5 and 6 (ages 11–12), with 57 in the intervention group and 56 in the control group. The intervention group participated in the GST program once a week for 40 min over 10 weeks, while the control group received no intervention. The Youth Smartphone Addiction Scale (S-scale) and the Korean Youth Self Report (K-YSR) were used to assess the program. Additionally, a repeated measures ANOVA was employed to examine changes between pre- and post-tests. Results: compared to the control group, the intervention group that received GST showed a significant reduction in smartphone addiction (F = 7.355, p = 0.020), withdrawal/depression (F = 5.540, p = 0.032), and somatic symptoms (F = 4.542, p = 0.040) compared to the control group. Conclusions: GST was found to be effective in reducing smartphone addiction, depression, and somatic symptoms in children at risk for smartphone addiction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behavioral and Mental Health Problems in Children: 2nd Edition)
13 pages, 246 KiB  
Article
Refugee Caregivers’ Perceptions of Using Mindfulness-Based Interventions to Support Coping Skills in Children with Disability in Jordan
by Zeina Fayad, Hadeel R. Bakhsh and Rawan AlHeresh
Children 2024, 11(11), 1381; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11111381 - 13 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1234
Abstract
Background: Refugee children with disabilities are vulnerable to developing dysfunctional coping skills due to barriers in accessing health care services, including occupational therapy (OT). This study investigated the perceptions of refugee caregivers regarding the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) as a treatment for [...] Read more.
Background: Refugee children with disabilities are vulnerable to developing dysfunctional coping skills due to barriers in accessing health care services, including occupational therapy (OT). This study investigated the perceptions of refugee caregivers regarding the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) as a treatment for coping skills among their children with disabilities. Methods: A qualitative survey was used to analyse the coping mechanisms and access to services among refugee children with disabilities, as well as their caregivers’ perceptions regarding the use of MBIs. The caregivers were recruited using convenience sampling from a database of individuals at the Al-Baqa’a refugee camp in Jordan via their community-based rehabilitation (CBR) centre. A demographic survey was sent to 156 refugees using WhatsApp. Refugees above the age of 18 years identifying as the caregivers of children with disabilities were eligible. Twenty-eight individuals completed the survey, and twenty-six were eligible. Open-ended questions asked about their child’s struggles, supports, barriers to support, and perceptions of MBIs. The data were collected via Google Sheets. Three researchers coded the responses using a descriptive coding method and line-by-line analysis. Results: Five themes were derived from the responses: “Daily Challenges”, “Support and Strategies”, “barriers to accessing support”, “MBIs: Caregiver Perceptions”, and “MBIs: Barriers”. The participants identified the behavioural, emotional, and cognitive challenges impacting their child’s participation. Financial and environmental constraints, stigma, and timing were the reported barriers to services. The participants felt positive about the potential of MBIs to support their children. Conclusions: Overall, this study obtained foundational data to establish accessible mental health programmes for refugees with disabilities. Further research is needed to transcend the barriers and maintain MBI programmes in the community and the home settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behavioral and Mental Health Problems in Children: 2nd Edition)
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