Comparison of behavioral problems of children with and without visual impairment aged 3 to 6 years

Behavioral problems are common, debilitating and extreme childhood disorders that cause many problems for the child and the family. The purpose of this study was to compare the amount of behavioral problems of children with and without visual impairment aged 3 to 6 years.

The research method is descriptive and causal-comparative. The statistical population of this research included all preschool children (ages 3 to 6) with and without visual impairment in Tehran in 2022-2023. The sample of the research was 200 parents of preschool children (100 parents of visually impaired children and 100 parents of normal children) who were selected from rehabilitation and preschool centers in Tehran using a targeted sampling method. Merrell (1994) Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS) was used to measure behavioral problems. The collected data were analyzed using independent t-test.

The results of independent samples t-test for two groups of visually impaired children and normal children indicated that there is a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). Thus, visually impaired children have more behavioral problems than normal children.

The statistical findings and the explanation of the findings show that there is a significant difference between preschool children with and without visual impairment in terms of behavioral problems, and this difference can be caused by the lack of sufficient skills in the adaptation of children with visual impairment, the lack of symptoms visual problems in these children, anger, anger and aggression following rejection, social isolation of children with visual impairment, parenting styles of parents with children with visual impairment that affect the child's behavior, the type of parental attitude and negative emotions of parents, parental stress, the controlling parenting style of parents with a child with visual impairment, all of which aggravate behavioral problems in children with visual impairment.