Sintomatología depresiva en los niños con padres migrantes de las escuelas de las zonas urbanas de Cuenca

Abstract

The limited amount of research in Ecuador regarding the effects of migration in the emotional development of children, motivated to conduct this study aiming to identify depressive symptoms in children with migrant parents. A quantitative study was conducted, that used a non-probabilistic criteria based sample of 38 children from third to sixth level in general basic education who were in the age range of 7 to 11 years. 19 children from each of the following educational institutions participated: “Sagrado Corazon de Todos Santos” and “Tres de Noviembre”. The instrument used in this study was the child depression inventory (CDI), the answers obtained in each item provided information regarding the level of total depression. The results revealed that of the 38 children, 6 had depressive symptoms, 5 had high scores on the negative self-esteem scale, and 14 had dysphoria (irritability, sadness, worry, anxiety, restlessness, etc.). These results indicate that, despite there is a small number of cases with total depression, there is a high number on the dysphoria scale. It was also found that paternal absence generates greater impact on depressive symptomatology, followed by the migration of both parents, being the maternal absence the one that produces fewer affectations.