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Background: It is expected that the ongoing war in Ukraine will have a considerable negative impact on the mental health of the country’s population. This study aims to provide a preliminary estimate of the degree of change in the mental health problems of Ukrainian children following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and identify the sociodemographic and war-related risk factors associated with these changes.Methods: A nationwide, opportunistic sample of 1,238 parents reported on a single randomly chosen child within their household as part of The Mental Health of Parents and Children in Ukraine Study. Data were collected between July 15th and September 5th 2022. Participants completed modified versions of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17) which was adapted to capture change in the frequency of symptoms since the Russian attack.Results: Parents reported increases across all 17 indicators of internalizing, externalizing and attention problems of the PSC-17. Increases were most pronounced within the internalizing domain, with 35% of parents reporting that their child worried more since the beginning of the war. Various individual, parental and war-related factors were associated with increases across the three domains. Exposure to war trauma, pre-existing mental health problems, and child age were amongst the strongest predictors of change. Conclusion: The Russian war on Ukraine has likely led to an increase in common mental health problems for children in the general population. Further research is required to determine the extent and outcomes of this increase, and to develop strategies to help those most in need.
McElroy et al. (Fri,) studied this question.