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Original Articles
Introduction
Although the Kosova war ended in 1999, long-term consequences such as missing family members, limited employment opportunities and migration to cities continue (Shahini & Landsman, 2008). Traditionally, a collectivist society, Kosova has become a more individualistic society with a widening generation gap and increased group tension. All these factors have potentially negative effects on mental health.
When Wenzel & Rushiti (2006) surveyed mental disorders in Kosova (N = 1161, ages 15-65), prevalence was 23% for PTSD, 43% for depression and 44% for emotional distress. Higher prevalence was found in people who had been raped, had experienced murder of friends/relatives, had limited education, lived in rural areas, and had experienced combat. Although Kosovar mass media indicate growing rates of suicide, divorce, drug use, youth trafficking youth violence since the war, no epidemiological study has been conducted to determine the prevalence of children's mental health problems and associations with demographic factors.
Referral, reporting and treatment systems for mental health problems in Kosova are still poorly developed. Kosovar researchers face major challenges in collecting epidemiological data because of limited resources. Epidemiological research on child mental health in developing countries is most feasible when an instrument is available that can be administered by non-professionals or self-administered, can be understood by people with varying levels of education, is inexpensive and simple to use, can be easily scored and interpreted, and has been shown to work well in many different societies. Since it meets these criteria, the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL/6-18) (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) has been successfully used for epidemiological research on children's behavioural/emotional problems in many societies, including those in Central/Eastern Europe.
Rescorla et al.'s (2007) multicultural comparisons of CBCL scores in 31 societies included samples from several Central/Eastern European societies, including Poland, Lithuania and Romania. Rescorla et al. (2012) reported CBCL comparisons for 69,866 children in 42 societies, the 31 societies compared previously plus 11 additional societies, among which were Kosova, Serbia and Croatia. The results indicated good fit of the CBCL syndrome model using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), small-to-medium effect sizes (ESs) for societal differences in scale scores, and large correlations across societies for mean item ratings. A limitation of these studies is that a...