The studies about children with school distress have pointed out boys and behavior problems high frequency, which can be associated to a weak prognostic, if they had been made up in an adverse environment. This study purpose was the investigation of gender adversity occurrence and gender association to behavior problems. Forty-six boys and 29 girls aged from 7 to 12 have participated in this investigation. All of them had been referred to a Psychology training clinic as they had presented school distress or bad performance. Behavioral problems were investigated by Achenbach's Inventário de Comportamentos da Infância e Adolescência, and a life event scale was used to assess life adversities. According to the statistical analysis, girls present more internalizing problems, , higher adversity exposure, and more frequent gender-related correlation patterns between environmental and behavioral problems. Results can contribute to design support practices for these children, whose needs go beyond the school environment.
environmental adversity; psychological assistance; child; students; gender; sociemotional problems
