Psychosocial difficulties of children aged 3 to 17 years, a representative cross-sectionnal survey

Jean-Baptiste HAZO¹

¹Drees, Paris, France

The aftermath of the health crisis has been pronounced by worrying observations about the mental health of children, adolescents and young adults. French psychiatric epidemiology lacks data to document it regularly. Social and territorial inequalities in children's mental health are poorly understood. The aim of this study is to document the social inequalities

affecting psychosocial problems and recourse to care for psychological reasons among of minors in the general population.

It is a study based on the data of a cross-sectional survey.

The study population is made up of minors aged 3 to 17 and their parent. Psychosocial difficulties were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire completed by a parent or parent's spouse or a foster parent. These difficulties, as well as the child's recourse to care for psychological reasons are described using bivariate and multivariate statistics to identify the socio-economic and individual factors associated with them.

Data from the EpiCov panel survey were used. Specific weightings are applied to the respondents and children concerned by the data collection which took place in July 2021 using telephone and online questionnaires.

The EpiCov survey collected weighted data on 20,127 children representative of children aged 3 to 17 living in France. 9% of children had an abnormally high level of psychosocial difficulties. Significant socio-economic disparities in psychosocial difficulties and use of healthcare have been identified, but they are not symmetrical according to the sex of the child. Other factors, such as parent's mental health and social support, as well as the child's exposure to screens,

physical activity and reading. Children from foster care had important difficulties in comparison to general population.

EpiCov's data on the psychosocial difficulties of minors will enable to give a reference for futur monitoring of children mental in general or specific populations.