Childhood social, emotional, and behavioural problems and their association with behaviour in the dental setting

Abstract

Background: Mental disorders are among the main causes of global disability in children, with negative impacts on their quality of life. It is possible that mental disorders could be associated with how children react in the dental setting. Aim: To test the association between children's psychological attributes and behaviour presented during dental care. Design: A questionnaire was given to mothers of children attending a paediatric dental clinic. Psychological attributes were evaluated using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. For analysis, the Internalizing and Externalizing problems and the Prosocial behaviour subscales were considered. Children's behaviour was assessed using the Frankl Scale. For analysis, Poisson regression models were employed. A significant level of P ≤ 0.05 was adopted. Results: Overall, 128 children aged between four and 12 years were included. Total difficulties (PR 5.36; 95%CI 2.2-12.9), Internalizing problems (PR 4.04; 95%CI 1.6-10.0), and externalizing problems (PR 3.36; 1.5-7.7) were associated with uncooperative behaviour. In relation to the strength domain, the Prosocial behaviour subscale (PR 1.21; 95%CI 0.6-2.6) was not associated with child behaviour. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that children aged between four and 12 years with internalizing and externalizing problems tend to have a higher prevalence of negative behaviour during dental treatment.