From Crisis to Resilience: Navigating Mental Health Challenges in Early Childhood Education

Dear Colleagues,

There is growing concern about children’s mental health. Based on the results of a recent meta-analysis on ten epidemiological studies from eight countries, with data on more than 18,000 children aged between 12 and 83 months (<7 years old), the pooled prevalence of mental disorders was 20.1%, the prevalence of anxiety disorders was 8.5%, and that of depressive disorders was 1.1%, while that of comorbidity was about 6.4%. The most common mental disorders were oppositional defiant disorder (4.9%) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (4.3%) (Vasileva et al., 2021). In an earlier systematic literature review on seven articles including 6,057 children aged 1-6 years and 19 children aged 7 to 9 years, McDonnell and Glod (2003) found that the prevalence of mental disorders in children aged 1-6 years ranged from 0.1% to 26.4%. The most common ones were oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety disorders, and simple phobia. The prevalence rates are alarming, suggesting that it is timely for researchers to study children's mental health.

Many studies consistently reported that children’s mental health has deteriorated (Ma et al., 2021; Ng & Ng, 2022) due to the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., the prolonged school closures, social isolation from friends, teachers and extended family, disturbances in sleeping patterns, insufficient physical exercise, excessive use of technology and heavy family financial stress resulting from fewer working hours or unemployment of parents). Children, especially those from low-income families and those experiencing more negative life events and family stressors, were at a greater risk of developing mental health problems (Bøe et al., 2018; Ng & Ng, 2022). However, there is a fairly common but mistaken impression that children do not develop mental health problems and that they are immune to the effects of early adversity and trauma (Osofsky & Lieberman, 2010). Therefore, adults and parents may fail to provide timely and adequate support for children during stressful times. Added to this, early childhood educators often report a lack of experience and training for supporting children’s mental health (Reinke et al, 2011), which further increases the challenges to promoting children’s mental health.

Mental health problems in childhood are consequential, as they are more likely to increase the risks of problems related to mental health, physical health, educational outcomes (e.g., academic achievement), health risk behaviors (e.g., sedentary lifestyle, smoking, high alcohol consumption), criminal behaviors, and unemployment during adolescence and adulthood (Patten et al., 2016; Schlack et al., 2021). Mental disorders are also associated with higher morbidity and mortality than physical diseases (Pennap et al., 2018), which leads to an increase in the government’s medical expenses and affects the productivity as well as the growth of society due to a corresponding reduction of the available workforce. 

Many studies found that there were more positive and lasting effects when prevention and interventions were conducted during childhood compared to when children were older (Mann et al., 2007; Miles et al. 2010). Since mental health and mental disorders are neurodevelopmental in nature, with its vulnerability and resilience rooted in young age (Mittal & Wakschlag, 2017), childhood is a crucial developmental phase, characterized by heightened plasticity, for developing resilience (Masten et al., 2021), which can be beneficial to children both in the short term and long term. 

This Special Issue is concerned with the latest research related to children’s mental health, including, but not limited to, research, intervention, and prevention approaches that strengthen children’s mental health; approaches to enhancing mental health support in educational policies amidst crisis; the roles of parents, early childhood educators, and schools in promoting children’s mental health; and pedagogies, programs, or interventions in developing children’s resilience and challenges encountered in the implementation of approaches to early childhood education. We particularly welcome studies using robust research designs, including studies using longitudinal or mixed methods designs, intervention studies, and studies using multi-source data to provide empirical evidence.

Below are the suggested themes:

(i) The impact of mental health challenges on children in early childhood education settings;

(ii) Building resilience in young children facing mental health challenges;

(iii) The role of family processes in supporting children's mental health;

(iv) Supporting educators in recognizing and addressing mental health needs in their students.

References

1. Bøe, T., Serlachius A. S., Sivertsen, B., Petrie, K. J., & Hysing, M. (2018). Cumulative effects of negative life events and family stress on children’s mental health: The Bergen child study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 53, 1-9. 
2. Ma, L., Maazidi, M., Li, K., Li, Y., Chen, S., Kirwan, R., Zhou, H., Yan, N., Rahman, A., Wang, W., & Wang, Y. (2021). Prevalence of mental health problems among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 293, 78-89. 
3. Mann, T., Powers, S., Boss, J., & Fraga, L. (2007). Infusing mental health supports and services into infant and toddler environments. In D. F. Perry, R. K. Kaufmann, & J. Knitzer (Eds.), Social and emotional health in early childhood: Building bridges between services and systems (pp. 257–280). Paul H. Brookes.
4. Masten, A. S., Lucke, C. M., Nelson, K. M., & Stallworthy, I. (2021). Resilience in development and psychopathology: Multisystem perspective. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 7(17), 521-549.
5. McDonnell, M.A., & Glod, C. (2003). Prevalence of psychopathology in preschool-age children. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 16, 141–152.
6. Miles, J., Espiritu, R., Horen, N., Sebian, J., & Waetzig, E. (2010). A public health approach to children’s mental health: A conceptual framework. Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health.
7. Mittal, V. A., & Wakschlag, L. S. (2017). Research domain criteria (RDoc) grows up: Strengthening neurodevelopmental investigation within the RDoC framework. Journal of Affective Disorders, 216, 30-35.
8. Ng, C. S. M., & Ng, S. S. L. (2022). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13:975936. doi. 10. 3389/fpsyt. 2022.975936
9. Osofsky, J. D., & Lieberman, A. F. (2010). A call for integrating a mental health perspective into systems of care for abused and neglected infants and young children. American Psychologist, 66(2), 120-128.
10. Patten, S. B., Wilkes, T. C. R., Lavorato, D. H., el-Guebaly, N., Wild, T. C., Colman, I., & Bulloch, A. G. M. (2016). Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25(2), 160-170. 
11. Pennap, D., Zito, J. M., Santosh, P. J., Tom, S. E., Onukwugha, E., & Magder, L. S. (2018). Patterns of early mental health diagnosis and medication treatment in a medicaid-insured birth cohort. JAMA Pediatrics, 172(6), 576-584.
12. Reinke, W. M., Stormont, M., Herman, K. C., Puri, R., & Goel, N. (2011). Supporting children’s mental health in schools: Teacher perceptions of needs, roles and barriers. School Psychology Quarterly, 26(1), 1-13. 
13. Schlack, R., Peerenboom, N., Neuperdt, L., Junker, S., & Bayern A-K. (2021). The effects of mental health problems in childhood and adolescence in young adults: Results of the KiGGS cohort. Journal of Health Monitoring, 6(4), 3-19. 
14. Vasileva, M., Graf, R. K., Reinelt, T., Petermann, U., & Petermann, F. (2021). Research review: A meta-analysis of the international prevalence and comorbidity of mental disorders in children between 1 and 7 years. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 62(4), 372-381. 

Dr. Catalina Sau Man Ng
Guest Editor

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• mental health
• preschoolers/children
• resilience
• intervention
• role of family
• teacher education
• early childhood education