Almost 30 percent of children from the three prefectures in the Tohoku region that were the hardest hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami suffer from anxiety, depression and other mental problems, according to a health ministry study released Jan. 26.
Almost 30 percent of children from the three prefectures in the Tohoku region that were the hardest hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami suffer from anxiety, depression and other mental problems, according to a health ministry study released Jan. 26.
“Many of the children have introvert problems, which are difficult to see at first,” said Takeo Fujiwara, a department director of the National Center for Child Health and Development. “We need to provide detailed assistance for them.”
Led by Shigeo Kure, pediatric professor at Tohoku University, the ministry's research team surveyed 178 children from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, who were between the ages of 3 to 6 at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The scientists interviewed the children and their parents or guardians around two years after the disaster.
The researchers later compared results from the Tohoku children with those of 82 children of the same age group in western Mie Prefecture.
After asking more than 100 questions designed to evaluate children’s mental conditions, the scientists discovered that 28 percent of the Tohoku children--4.5 times the number of infants in Mie Prefecture--suffered from serious introversion as a mental issue. The condition included signs of social withdrawal and feelings of anxiety and depression.
According to the findings, 21 percent of the Tohoku children displayed aggressive behavior or other indicators of “extroverted” behavior, while 26 percent had social adjustment disorders or other “comprehensive” problems.
The investigators said the children need to receive medical attention as soon as possible, and that some of them had multiple problems.
The study also showed that the houses of 25 percent of the children from the disaster-hit areas were destroyed or swept away by the tsunami, while homes of the same percentage were badly damaged.
Fifty-eight percent of the children had stayed at their relatives’ homes when the team carried out its investigation, and 31 percent said they used to live in evacuation shelters. Thirty-nine percent of the children had lived separately from their parents at least once after the disaster.