Children's mental health and collective violence: a binational study on the United States-Mexico border.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk effects of poverty and exposure to collective violence attributed to organized crime on the mental health of children living on the United States-Mexico border. METHODS: A repeated, cross-sectional study measured risk effects by comparing scores of psychosocial and behavioral problems among children and adolescents living on the border in the United States or Mexico in 2007 and 2010. Patients living in poverty who responded once to the Pictorial Child Behavior Checklist (P+CBCL) in Spanish were randomly selected from clinics in El Paso, Texas, United States (poverty alone group), and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico (poverty plus violence group). Only children of Hispanic origin (Mexican-American or Mexican) living below the poverty level and presenting at the clinic for nonemergency visits with no history of diagnosed mental, neurological, or life-threatening disease or disability were included. RESULTS: Exposure to collective violence and poverty seemed to have an additive effect on children's mental health. Children exposed to both poverty and collective violence had higher problem scores, as measured by the P+CBCL, than those exposed to poverty alone. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to consider that children and adolescents exposed to collective violence and poverty also have fewer chances to receive treatment. Untreated mental health problems predict violence, antisocial behaviors, and delinquency and affect families, communities, and individuals. It is crucial to address the mental health of children on the border to counteract the devastating effects this setting will have in the short term and the near future.

Children’s mental health and collective violence: a binational study on the United States—Mexico border / Salud mental infantil y violencia colectiva: un estudio binacional en la frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos

Objetivo. Investigar los efectos del riesgo de pobreza y la exposición a la violenciacolectiva atribuida al crimen organizado sobre la salud mental de los niños que vivenen la frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos.Métodos. En este estudio transversal seriado se midieron los efectos del riesgo mediantela comparación de las puntuaciones de problemas psicosociales y conductualesen los niños y adolescentes que viven en la frontera entre México y los Estados Unidosen el 2007 y el 2010. Se seleccionó aleatoriamente a pacientes que viven en la pobrezaque habían respondido en una oportunidad anterior el Cuestionario de ComportamientoInfantil basado en Pictogramas (P+CBCL) en español a partir de consultoriosen El Paso, Texas, Estados Unidos (grupo afectado solamente por la pobreza), yCiudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México (grupo afectado por la pobreza y la violencia). Seincluyeron solamente niños de origen hispano (estadounidenses de origen mexicanoo mexicanos) que vivían en la pobreza, que consultaron por motivos que no eran urgenciasy que no presentaban antecedentes de enfermedades neurológicas, mentaleso potencialmente mortales, ni discapacidad.Resultados. La exposición a la violencia colectiva y la pobreza parecieron tenerun efecto aditivo sobre la salud mental de los niños. Los niños expuestos tanto a lapobreza como a la violencia colectiva tuvieron puntuaciones mayores de problemasconductuales y psicosociales según las mediciones del P+CBCL que aquellos expuestossolamente a la pobreza.Conclusiones. Es importante considerar que los niños y los adolescentes expuestosa la violencia colectiva y la pobreza también tienen menos oportunidades de recibirtratamiento. Los problemas de salud mental no tratados son factores predictivos de laviolencia, los comportamientos antisociales y la delincuencia y afectan a las familias,a las comunidades y a los individuos. Es crucial abordar el tema de la salud mentalde los niños en la región de la frontera a fin de contrarrestar los efectos devastadoresque esta situación ocasionará a corto plazo y en el futuro cercano.

Objective. To investigate the risk effects of poverty and exposure to collective violenceattributed to organized crime on the mental health of children living on the United States–Mexico border.Methods. A repeated, cross-sectional study measured risk effects by comparing scores ofpsychosocial and behavioral problems among children and adolescents living on the border inthe United States or Mexico in 2007 and 2010. Patients living in poverty who responded onceto the Pictorial Child Behavior Checklist (P+CBCL) in Spanish were randomly selected fromclinics in El Paso, Texas, United States (poverty alone group), and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua,Mexico (poverty plus violence group). Only children of Hispanic origin (Mexican–Americanor Mexican) living below the poverty level and presenting at the clinic for nonemergency visitswith no history of diagnosed mental, neurological, or life-threatening disease or disability wereincluded.Results. Exposure to collective violence and poverty seemed to have an additive effect onchildren’s mental health. Children exposed to both poverty and collective violence had higherproblem scores, as measured by the P+CBCL, than those exposed to poverty alone.Conclusions. It is important to consider that children and adolescents exposed to collectiveviolence and poverty also have fewer chances to receive treatment. Untreated mentalhealth problems predict violence, antisocial behaviors, and delinquency and affect families,communities, and individuals. It is crucial to address the mental health of children on the borderto counteract the devastating effects this setting will have in the short term and the near future.

Sensitivity and specificity of the pictorial Pediatric Symptom Checklist for psychosocial problem detection in a Mexican sample.

Written questionnaires have been developed to assess children's risks of psychosocial problems based on parents' responses. However, the effectiveness of these questionnaires is limited in populations with low literacy rates, which are also among the most in need of improved mental health screening and care. The present study compared the sensitivity and specificity of a version of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC)--which contained pictorial descriptions in addition to written text--against the "gold standard" Child Behavior Checklist. We retrospectively analyzed 240 sets of questionnaires completed by the mothers or stepmothers of children who visited clinics in a Community Center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, between May and December 2007, under the Seguro Popular insurance program provided to Mexicans with the lowest socioeconomic status. Over 95% of the parental participants had less than a high school level of education. The pictorial PSC was a useful tool for screening for psychosocial impairment, with improved sensitivity and specificity in comparison to previous assessments of the written PSC in similar populations within the U.S. Optimal sensitivity and specificity were achieved when the threshold for clinical follow-up was lowered from 28 to 22 points. Questionnaires that include pictorial descriptions may be valuable for improvements of health screening in communities with low education levels.