Detailed contribution information
| Contribution title | Perceived stress in school- aged children in a community and child psychiatric patient samples |
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| Contribution code | D3.159 |
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| Form of presentation | Poster |
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| Abstract |
Aims. This study aimed to evaluate perceived stress and it’ s sources in school-aged children of community and child psychiatric patient samples as reported by the parents and the children themselves. Method. Families of 7- to 13-year-old children from a Finnish nationwide community (n=737) and child psychiatric (n=429) samples attended stress study in 2023. Parents reported on their child’s stress-experience during the past 4 weeks on a VAS scale from 0-10 (0 no stress-10 extreme stress) and the sources of stress: school, peer relations, family life, hobbies or free time, symptoms or illness, family economic situation, corona, climate change, war by yes/no alternatives. Children in both samples aged 9 or more reported also themselves on their perceived stress with the same scale. Results and Conclusions. The mean stress score for the parent reported VAS-scale was 3.05 (SD 2.27, range 0-10) in the community and 5.97 (SD 2.18, range 0-10) in the patient sample (p < 0.001). Child reported stress score was also significantly higher in the patient than community sample (mean 5.42 (2.73) and 3.11(2.56), p < 0.001). According to parents 24% of the community children and 72% of the patients had a moderate or higher stress level. The stress in children was mainly related to school (community sample 66%/ patients 83%), peer relations (36/60%), family life (22/43%), hobbies or free time (26/32%), symptoms or illness (19/64%). These results warrant evaluation of stress in children with psychiatric symptoms as by alleviating stress may reduce the symptoms and mitigate the need of specialized care. |