Associations between social potential and emotional and behavioural difficulties in Egyptian children

Abstract

A number of Egyptian children experience psychiatric or mental health problems owing to a variety of internal and external qualities in their social context. These problems may mask strengths, particularly their social potential represented in their prosocial behaviour (PB). Research on emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBDs) should thus consider their strengths. The present study focuses on the PBs of Egyptian children. Teachers of 454 children from 6 schools completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to identify the children's EBDs as well as their PBs, together with Conners' Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS-39) to identify EBDs alone. The investigation entailed examining gender differences in strengths and difficulties, frequency of prosociality categories and associations between high versus low levels of PB with EBDs. Descriptive statistics, bi-variate and regression analyses, and t-test statistics were employed to answer the research questions. Results showed that boys were reported to show more EBDs than girls, whereas girls showed better PBs than did the boys. Caring was the most prevalent PB among both girls and boys. EBDs composed a significant and fit model for predicting PBs. Implications of the present study regarding the assessment of social behaviours in schools are discussed.