Anxiety and Depression in Malaysian Preadolescent Primary School Children

Abstract

Recent National Malaysian Health and Morbidity Survey have reported that the prevalence of mental health problem among school children has increased steadily. We designed a study to determine the factors associated with depression and anxiety among preadolescent school children in (n = 386) in Malaysia. Results found that 7.7% and 10.1% of participants reported abnormal levels of depression and anxiety, respectively. Among the factors that significantly associated with anxiety and depression are gender and having a medical illness. Female children and those who are having a medical illness were found to have a high level of anxiety. Further analysis revealed that anxiety and depression correlated significantly with the children s problematic behaviours. The findings of the study provide valuable insight into understanding the mental attributes of preadolescence primary school children in Malaysia. eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.