title: Psychosocial functioning and self-rated health in Japanese school-aged children: A cross-sectional study.
abstract: Emotional and behavioral disorders in children are school-health concerns; however, Japanese screening tools for such disorders are not yet available. We examined the association between psychosocial functioning as measured by the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) and self-rated health within school settings. A cross-sectional study was conducted for 2513 fifth and eighth graders from all of the primary and secondary schools in Shunan City, Japan. The Japanese PSC had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.90) and a factor structure similar to that of the English PSC. When the cut-off values were set to ≥ 28 and ≥ 17, 4-9% and 20-39% of our respondents, respectively, reported high PSC scores. A multiple ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio of a positive PSC score (≥ 28) for poorer self-rated health among ratings of "very good," "good," "fair," and "poor" was 3.5 (95% confidence interval = 2.6-4.8). There was a clear association between psychosocial dysfunction identified by a PSC score ≥ 28 and poor self-rated health. We offer directions for further research on appropriate PSC cut-off values with Japanese samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Safety, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan. okuda@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp|International Center for Preventive Medicine and Education, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sekiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi-Ube Medical Centre, Ube, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kunitsugu
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan.
authors.forename: Norikazu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoshitake
authors.affiliation: International Center for Preventive Medicine and Education, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan.|Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hobara
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D057189:Checklist; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011584:Psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012572:School Health Services; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Japan; Pediatric Symptom Checklist; dysfunction; health; pediatrics; psychosocial dysfunction; school children