Poster #20 - Anxiety Problems and Depression on Learning Interest and Curiosity Among 6- to 17-Year-Olds

• In Event: Poster Session 05

Abstract

Anxiety and depression are pervasive mental disorders among children, and these issues have been identified as global public health concerns affecting children and their families, including learning. According to the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) data set, among all 3- through 17-year-olds, 7.1% have been identified as having current anxiety problems and 3.2% have been identified as having current depression in the USA (Ghandour et al., 2019). Further, anxiety and depression has been shown to be negatively associated with school performance and learning issues (Brunelle et al., 2021; Ciuhan & Iliescu, 2021). In the US, each state can have unique and varied approaches for supporting children in school who are experiencing mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. This study will explore how anxiety and depression relate with learning and curiosity among children aged 6 through 17 years and the degree to which these associations vary by state. Data for this study were extracted from the 2019-2020 NSCH dataset.

Method. This study is a secondary data analysis of the combined 2019-2020 NSCH dataset. The sample size was 2,585 randomly selected children aged 6 through 17 years, which is about 5% of the sample from the original dataset. Demographic characteristics of participants, including age, sex, and spoken language, of participants, are shown in Table 1. Data were analyzed through the IBM SPSS Statistics 28 software, and the Linear Mixed Model (LMM) was employed in the hypothesis testing. Anxiety problems and depression, the independent variables, were coded as either Yes (2) or No (1). Interest and curiosity in learning, the dependent variables, was coded as a single indicator such that higher values indicated more (4=Always, 3=Usually, 2=Sometimes, 1=Never). State was entered as a random effect for intercept and slope for each IV.

Results and Discussion. Results of the LMM for indicate that anxiety problem (B= -.215, p < 0.05) and depression (B= -.304, p < 0.001) were significantly and negatively associated with interest and curiosity in learning. Further, the estimate of the random intercept for state was significant (0.237, p < 0.001), as well as the random slope for anxiety (0.050, p < .05) and the random slope for depression (0.063, p < .05). Findings indicate that anxiety problems and depression are significant predictors of interest and curiosity in learning and that these associations vary by state. Additional analyses and exploration for why the associations between mental health and interest/curiosity in learning vary by state will be provided.

Authors

• Prabhath W K Pallewaththa Palle Waththage, University of Missouri - Columbia
  Presenting Author

• Louis Manfra, University of Missouri - Columbia