Mental health status of children who use foreign languages at home in Japan.

Aim: Little is known about the mental health status of children in Japan whose roots are in foreign countries. The differences in language that are used every day may be a factor that makes adaptation difficult for these children. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to examine the mental health status of children who use foreign languages at home via a cross-sectional survey in a large cohort.

Methods: The survey was conducted among children who attended public elementary and junior high schools in a large city in Japan. Data were received from 20,596 elementary school-aged (above 4th grade) and 19,464 junior high school-aged children. We compared mental health status evaluated by the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 in the group based on language usage at home (only Japanese, only foreign languages, and both languages).

Results: We found that children who used foreign languages at home exhibited worse mental health status than children who used only Japanese at home. In addition, mental health status was slightly better among junior high school-aged children who used only foreign languages at home than among elementary school-aged children. This tendency was not observed in the group of children who used both languages at home.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that children in Japanese society who use foreign languages at home have worse mental health, therefore there is a need for support for these children living in Japan.