The Prevalence of Behavioural Symptoms and Psychiatric Disorders in Hadza Children

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Prevalence of Behavioural Symptoms and Psychiatric Disorders in Hadza Children

AU - Ougrin, Dennis

AU - Woodhouse, Emma

AU - Tucker, Gavin

AU - Ronaldson, Amy

AU - Bakolis, Ioannis

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Mariamu Anyawire for her interpreting services. We thank Emma Wilson and Jérémy Lemoine for scoring the SDQs. We thank Caitlin Aspinall for contributing to editing of the manuscript. We thank Quinton Deeley for his comments on the manuscript. Funding was provided by a grant to DO from King’s College London. Funding Information: We thank Mariamu Anyawire for her interpreting services. We thank Emma Wilson and Jérémy Lemoine for scoring the SDQs. We thank Caitlin Aspinall for contributing to editing of the manuscript. We thank Quinton Deeley for his comments on the manuscript. Funding was provided by a grant to DO from King’s College London. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/12/12

Y1 - 2023/12/12

N2 - The worldwide pooled prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children is 13.4%. Studying the prevalence of childhood psychiatric disorders across radically different economic systems and social structures could indicate universal factors leading to their development. The prevalence of childhood psychiatric disorders in a mixed-subsistence foraging society has not been studied. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Development and Well-Being Assessment were used to compare the prevalence of behavioural symptoms and psychiatric disorders in Hadza children aged 5-16 years (n = 113) to a nationally representative sample from England (n = 18,029) using a cross-sectional study design. Emotional problems, conduct problems and hyperactivity were lower in the Hadza children. Prosocial behaviour and peer problems were higher in Hadza children. 3.6% of Hadza children met the criteria for a psychiatric disorder compared to 11.8% of English children. All psychiatric disorders in Hadza children were co-morbid with autism spectrum disorder. No child from the Hadza group met the criteria for an emotional, behaviour or eating disorder. Further work should study the factors which lead to the different prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Hadza children.

AB - The worldwide pooled prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children is 13.4%. Studying the prevalence of childhood psychiatric disorders across radically different economic systems and social structures could indicate universal factors leading to their development. The prevalence of childhood psychiatric disorders in a mixed-subsistence foraging society has not been studied. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Development and Well-Being Assessment were used to compare the prevalence of behavioural symptoms and psychiatric disorders in Hadza children aged 5-16 years (n = 113) to a nationally representative sample from England (n = 18,029) using a cross-sectional study design. Emotional problems, conduct problems and hyperactivity were lower in the Hadza children. Prosocial behaviour and peer problems were higher in Hadza children. 3.6% of Hadza children met the criteria for a psychiatric disorder compared to 11.8% of English children. All psychiatric disorders in Hadza children were co-morbid with autism spectrum disorder. No child from the Hadza group met the criteria for an emotional, behaviour or eating disorder. Further work should study the factors which lead to the different prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Hadza children.

KW - Humans

KW - Autism Spectrum Disorder/psychology

KW - Prevalence

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Affective Symptoms/psychology

KW - Behavioral Symptoms

KW - Feeding and Eating Disorders

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85179304151&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-023-48114-4

DO - 10.1038/s41598-023-48114-4

M3 - Article

C2 - 38086816

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 13

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

IS - 1

M1 - 22061

ER -