School of Education, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Department of Clinical Psychology and the Lior Tzfaty Mental Pain Center, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Heffer, Israel.
Transcult Psychiatry. 2024 Feb;61(1):15-29. doi: 10.1177/13634615231202095. Epub 2023 Oct 9.
Although the diagnosis of selective mutism (SM) is more prevalent among immigrant children, the link between the disorder and an immigration background has been elusive. Guided by ecocultural models of development, the current study aimed to construct a theory-based description of SM while considering individual, family, and contextual risk factors. Participants were 78 children with SM (38.4% with an immigration background), and 247 typically developed children (18.2% with an immigration background). Consistent with previous studies, our results suggest that anxiety was the most important predictor of SM symptoms, above and beyond immigration background. Immigration, especially if coupled with bilingual status and low family income, predicted increased levels of SM symptoms. Identifying multi-level predictors of SM may help researchers and clinicians to improve early identification and treatment of SM in culturally and linguistically diverse children.
尽管选择性缄默症（SM）的诊断在移民儿童中更为普遍，但该障碍与移民背景之间的联系一直难以捉摸。本研究以发展的生态文化模型为指导，旨在在考虑个体、家庭和环境风险因素的情况下，构建基于理论的 SM 描述。参与者为 78 名患有 SM 的儿童（38.4%有移民背景）和 247 名发育正常的儿童（18.2%有移民背景）。与之前的研究一致，我们的结果表明，焦虑是 SM 症状最重要的预测因素，超过了移民背景。移民，尤其是与双语身份和低家庭收入相结合，预示着 SM 症状水平的增加。确定 SM 的多层次预测因素可能有助于研究人员和临床医生改善对文化和语言多样化儿童的 SM 的早期识别和治疗。
