{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T23:41:25Z","timestamp":1788824485179,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":90,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,21]],"date-time":"2020-04-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1587427200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000071","name":"National Institute of Child Health and Human Development","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01HD073349"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01HD073349"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000071","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Transcult Psychiatry"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> Globally, over 13% of children and adolescents are affected by mental disorders, yet relatively little scholarship addresses how risk factors, symptoms, and nosology vary by culture and context, especially in young children living in post-conflict and low-resource settings. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study to identify and describe the most salient mental health problems facing children aged 6 to 10 years in Sierra Leone, as well as the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to these problems. Free list interviews ( N\u2009=\u2009200) and semi-structured interviews ( N\u2009=\u200966) were conducted among caregivers, children, and other relevant key informants to explore risk factors and locally meaningful concepts of distress. Our findings indicate that children are faced with a variety of challenges in their social environments that contribute to distress, including hunger, unmet material needs, and excessive work. Our research identifies five contextually defined mental health problems faced by young children: gbos gbos (angry, destructive behavior), poil at (sad, disruptive behavior), diskoraj (sad, withdrawn), wondri (excessive worry), and fred fred (abnormal fear). The manifestations of these distress concepts are described in detail and contextualized according to Sierra Leone\u2019s history of war and current backdrop of poverty and insecurity. Implications are discussed for locally relevant diagnosis and treatment as well as for the wider literature on global child mental health. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1363461520916695","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,22]],"date-time":"2020-04-22T05:01:41Z","timestamp":1587531701000},"page":"461-478","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Mental health problems among children in Sierra Leone: Assessing cultural concepts of distress"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"59","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1724-4258","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elyse J","family":"Thulin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Behavior & Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kristen E","family":"McLean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephen","family":"Sevalie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sustainable Health Systems, Freetown, Sierra Leone"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adeyinka M","family":"Akinsulure-Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, The City College of New York, CUNY, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Theresa S","family":"Betancourt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Boston College School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1363461520916695","volume-title":"The burdens of mental disorders: Global perspectives from the WHO World Mental Health surveys","author":"Alonso J.","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr2-1363461520916695","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.books.9780890425596"},{"key":"bibr3-1363461520916695","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.331.7519.720-b"},{"key":"bibr4-1363461520916695","author":"Atilola O.","year":"2014","journal-title":"Psychiatry Journal, 2014"},{"key":"bibr5-1363461520916695","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/heapro\/dau065"},{"key":"bibr6-1363461520916695","unstructured":"Behrendt A. 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