Abstract

MAGALHAES, Júlia et al. Social vulnerability and mental health among children and young people: report of two brazilian longitudinal studies. Cad. Pós-Grad. Distúrb. Desenvolv. [online]. 2021, vol.21, n.2, pp. 9-38. ISSN 1519-0307.

Children and young people who live experiences of social vulnerability, such as living in violent communities, having a shortage of financial resources, experiencing stressful life situations and experiencing violence in the community or within the family, have a high chance of developing mental health problems. In view of this situation that affects a large part of Brazilian families, public policies focused on reducing poverty, such as the Programa Bolsa Família, have been implemented. The objective of this article is to describe two research projects aimed at evaluating factors that can reduce the association between social vulnerability and mental health problems in childhood and adolescence: "Violence and child rights in Brazil: can the cycle of violence be broken?" and the "Poverty reduction, mental health and the chances of young people: understanding mechanisms through analyses from 6 low- and middle-income countries" - CHANCES-6. The presentation of these projects serves to illustrate the scope of epidemiological research carried out in Brazil as well as to know what is being addressed in the area of mental health for children and adolescents in contexts of social vulnerability, and how these discussions are being conducted. Overall, these surveys have shown high rates of mental health problems and different types of violence in childhood and adolescence, revealing factors related to this complex scenario. In addition, they point out the importance of integrating mental health components into social protection programs aimed at young people in developing countries. We highlight the need to generate scientific evidence on the effectiveness of public policies aimed at children and adolescents in social vulnerability to reduce mental health problems and violence.

Keywords : Mental health; Childhood; Adolescence; Social vulnerability; Social projects.

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