Serious Emotional and Behavioral Problems and the Use of Mental Health Services in a Sample of Brazilian Elementary School Students

Background: serious emotional and behavioral problems in children/adolescents can be identified by informants through screening instruments, which can increase their chances of receiving care in mental health services. Objectives: verify and compare serious emotional and behavioral problems in elementary school students depending on school type and correlate these problems with the use of mental health services. Method: observational cross-sectional study with a convenience sample composed of 357 children and adolescents between 6 and 12 years old without mental health complaints, from public and private schools. Instruments: Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 (CBCL/6-18) and questionnaire for use of mental health services. To identify serious emotional and behavioral problems, critical items from the behavioral problem syndrome scales and scales guided by the CBCL/6-18 DSM were used. Results: different types of serious emotional and behavioral problems were identified using critical items, such as physically attacking other people (16.5%), saying they are going to kill themselves (5.6%), seeing things that don't exist (3, 9%), setting things on fire (7.9%) and hearing sounds or voices that don't exist (2.8%). Bivariate analysis showed that, despite the frequency of these serious emotional and behavioral problems, the use of mental health services was extremely low (0.84%). Conclusion: the critical items of the CBCL/6-18 help to screen for serious emotional and behavioral difficulties that can negatively impact the mental health of children/adolescents. The lack of parental recognition of serious mental health problems still demands theoretical and empirical deepening.