A Cross‐National Prevalence Study of Children with Emotional and Behavioural Problems—A WHO Collaborative Study in the Western Pacific Region

Abstract

Emotional and behavioural problems in primary school children were investigated with Rutter's questionnaires, in Japan (N = 2638), China (N = 2432) and Korea (N = 1975). The prevalence rates of children with deviant scores on the teachers' and parents' scales were 3.9 and 12.0% in Japan, 8.3 and 7.0% in China and 14.1 and 19.1% in Korea, respectively. Deviance of the antisocial type was more frequent than the neurotic type in Japan and China. Both types were almost equally frequent in Korea. The prevalence of deviance was higher in boys, and also higher in those children with poor school achievement. In China and Korea, the prevalence was higher in children from one-parent families. Although other family background factors had major effects on deviant behaviour in these two countries, the number of siblings and birth order had only a limited effect on the deviant behaviour of children in Japan, China and Korea.