Mental Health of Young Schoolchildren - Possibilities and Importance of its Assessment

Overview

The project „Promotion ofmental and emotional health within the framework of ENHPS“ is one of the projectsof the European Network of Health Promoting Schools, focused specifically on promotion of mental health ofchildren via intervention addressed to their teachers. This project was implemented in Slovakia in 1998 - 2000 byworkers of the Department of Social Medicine, Medical Faculty, Šafařík University Košice. The objective is topresent the results of mapping of childrens mental health.The sample comprised 519 children (264 boys - 50.9% and 255 girls - 49.1%) from seven elementary schoolsand one 8-year secondary school in Košice (mean age - 11.5 years). For assessment of the mental health of childrenthe following subjective indicators were used: GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire), ABS (Affect BalanceScale), SeS (Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale).Comparison of the mental health of our children with those from Hungary revealed: Our children had a betterscore as regards subjective wellbeing, positive emotions and emotional wellbeing. The Hungarian children hada better score as regards negative emotions and self-esteem.The applied self-evaluation of subjective health indicators contributes to the quality of life of our adolescentgeneration. At the same time it shifts the discussion of these indicators in post-communist countries froma theoretical level towards more accurate data which can be relied upon.

Key words:
children, mental health, indicators, quality of life