Resumen

MAZADIEGO-INFANTE, Teresa de Jesús; VERA-PEDROZA, Alejandro  y  RUIZ-CARUS, Saralina. Internalized and externalized problems in a sample of elementary school children. J. behav. health soc. ISSUES [online]. 2011, vol.3, n.1, pp.17-23. ISSN 2007-0780.  https://doi.org/10.5460/jbhsi.v3.1.27680.

Betancourt (2007) indicates that internalized problems are more difficult to detect because subjects behavior does not affect directly their parents and teachers, who underestimate the severity of them. Etienne (2005), Mazadiego (2005) and Pelish (2006) argue that low self-esteem can lead a person to show these problems; on the contrary, a good self-esteem can make subjects confident in their abilities, to prevent to be manipulated, to be more sensitive to the needs of others, and to be willing to defend their principles and values. This research was designed to reduce the problems presented by a sample of children reported by their teachers and forwarded to the College of Psychology, Campus Poza Rica, Universidad Veracruzana. Participants were one hundred children that attended a public elementary school, in grades fourth, fifth and sixth of elementary level; they showed aggressive behavior with peers, poor grades, disabilities, challenging behavior with teachers, disobedience, low self-concept and low self-image. The criterion to be included in the sample was based on reports from the teachers of the three degrees. The instrument used was the Self-Esteem Scale of Andrade and Fernández (2007) which has a reliability of 0.640. Results indicated that the self-esteem program was effective for all participants, with the highest increase in male self-esteem; it was best in improving self-esteem, primarily with friends (social area) and also at home and at school; in the three areas of the program there were substantial changes, so it is considered that the self-esteem program was effective in reducing the problems of participants; further monitoring is recommended to measure the overall impact of the program.

Palabras llave : Internalizing problems; externalizing problems; self-esteem program.