Some 10 percent of children visiting pediatric hospitals as outpatients are suffering psychological problems, mostly girls aged 15 and boys aged 14, according to the results of the first nationwide survey on children's mental health.
The girls outnumber the boys, it showed.
The survey, carried out by a group of experts, including Zentaro Yamagata, a professor of health education at Yamanashi Medical College, was released in a meeting of the Japan Epidemiological Association in late January.