Study highlights children's issues

Key factors in a child’s social and emotional difficulties are being a boy, conflict with the mother, being from a low income family, having a learning difficulty and having high levels of emotionality, a new report launched today has found.

Up to a fifth of nine-year-old children displayed significant levels of emotional or behavioural problems according to the fourth report from the Growing up in Ireland national longitudinal study of children. Such levels are in line with international norms.

The report written by Trinity College Dublin developmental psychologist Elizabeth Nixon looked at how families matter for social and emotional outcomes of 9-year-old children.

The child’s innate characteristics and the quality of the parent-child relationship were more important predictors of emotional and social problems than the family structure or income level, the study found.

Experiencing conflict with parents could have a detrimental effect on the well-being of a child, the study found.

Closeness to the mother was significantly associated with the emotional and social well being of a child.

Parents with depression had higher levels of conflict with children and mothers with depression had less closeness with their child.

Mother and child conflict was higher in single-parent households and lowest income households. Children from these backgrounds had more social and emotional problems.

The stress and hardship inherent in households with less economic and relational resources may increase the risk of conflict and lessen the ability of some parents to build positive relationships, the study suggests.

Parenting style was also a key factor in the child’s outcome. Children whose parents used an authoritarian style (high control and low responsiveness) had more difficulties.

Boys were more likely than girls to experience authoritarian parenting and boys were particularly affected by this style.

The high levels of control in authoritarian parenting could be difficult for boys due to the expectations that males be dominant and assertive, the report suggests.

For girls neglectful parenting by a mother was also associated with negative outcomes. Boys were vulnerable to the negative effects of neglectful fathering.

Both authoritarian and neglectful parenting are associated with negative emotional and social outcomes. Authoritarian parenting was used by 4.1 per cent of mothers while neglectful parenting was used by 2.5 per cent.

More than three quarters of parents used authoritative parenting which had high levels of responsiveness and demands for appropriate behaviour.

Mothers in the two lowest income brackets were more likely to use neglectful parenting than parents in the highest income brackets.

The intrinsic characteristics of a child such as gender and temperament were more important than parenting or family factors for predicting social and emotional outcomes, the study found.

Boys showed more behavioural problems (such as conduct and hyperactivity) than girls and more emotional and social problems overall. Girls displayed more internalizing symptoms (such as anxiety).

Higher levels of “emotionality (for example reacting intensively when upset) and lower levels of sociability in a child were associated with difficulties.

Shyer children were more likely to display emotional problems. Children classified as having a chronic illness or learning or developmental difficulty (such as asperger syndrome, dyslexia,, speech and language problems)was associated with “elevated risk” of social and emotional problems. Such children may be deprived of important socialisation experiences, the report said.

The study recommended child-focused programmes to help build children’s skills for developing relationships, regulating emotions and coping with stress.

It suggests support for parents to build strong positive relationships which can protect children from the potentially damaging effects of parental depression.

The paper is based on data collected from more than 8500 nine-year-old children their parents and teachers in 2007 and 2008.