Santos Angélica C G, Silva Ariane, Libório Matheus, Nobre Cristiane Neri, Mannan Hasheem, D'Angelo Marcos Flávio S V
Postgraduate Program in Computational Modeling and Systems, Montes Claros State University, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Postgraduate Program in Informatics, Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
PLoS One. 2025 Jun 16;20(6):e0326239. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0326239. eCollection 2025.
Children and adolescents are increasingly susceptible to issues related to anxiety and depression symptoms. The literature does not present a consensus on the composition of indicators that make predictions, prognostic algorithms, or management strategies in mental health promotion and prevention. Most studies primarily focus on the consequences observed in adulthood. This study develops a multidimensional representation of the propensity of children and adolescents to have difficulties in the field of anxiety and depression. The Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) operator was used to create a composite indicator, and three quality tests validated the results. For this, it uses information about different dimensions associated with adversity in childhood and adolescence from 54 countries sourced from UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys to compare the values of proposed dimensions across continents. The generated composite indicator reveals that, on average, countries in Africa show a higher propensity for children and adolescents to present difficulties in the anxiety and depression fields. In the opposite position, the Americas have the lowest average propensity for these mental health conditions. The validation of the results through quality tests reinforces confidence in the direction indicated by the findings, enhancing the decision-making process when dealing with multidimensional phenomena.
儿童和青少年越来越容易出现与焦虑和抑郁症状相关的问题。在心理健康促进和预防方面，关于用于预测、预后算法或管理策略的指标构成，文献中并未达成共识。大多数研究主要关注在成年期观察到的后果。本研究构建了儿童和青少年在焦虑和抑郁领域出现困难倾向的多维表征。使用有序加权平均（OWA）算子创建了一个综合指标，并通过三项质量测试验证了结果。为此，它利用了来自联合国儿童基金会多指标类集调查的54个国家与童年和青少年时期逆境相关的不同维度的信息，以比较各大洲提议维度的值。生成的综合指标显示，平均而言，非洲国家的儿童和青少年在焦虑和抑郁领域出现困难的倾向更高。相反，美洲在这些心理健康状况方面的平均倾向最低。通过质量测试对结果进行验证，增强了对研究结果所指示方向的信心，在处理多维现象时加强了决策过程。
