A Study of Kindergarten Children in Three Socioeconomic Areas of British Columbia

PRESCHOOL YEARS are considered a crucial phase in growth and development.At the same time, they are the years in which the child is least protected from the effects of adverse living cir- cumstances.The growing concern for the social, psychological, nutritional, and medical impact of poverty upon health has been reflected in the writings of various authors and commissions in Canada and elsewhere (1-18).The preschool years and the vulnerability of the preschool child in our society has become the object of renewed interest and concern.We believed that a survey of children entering kindergarten in a variety of socioeconomic areas would provide a measure of the health status of British Columbia children at the conclusion of their preschool years.Such a survey would also provide some indication of the impact of differing socioeconomic circumstances upon health.