Emotional and behavioural problems experienced by children living in single-parent families: a pilot study

Accompanying your children: Living without parents at different stages of pre-adulthood and individual physical and mental health in adulthood

Objectives

This study examined how living without parents at different stages of childhood and adolescence affects physical and mental health in adulthood.

Methods

The data came from 3,464 survey respondents aged 18–36 in the 2018 China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey. Physical health was self-rated. Mental health was measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. The ordered probit and ordinary least-squares regression analyses were employed to determine the associations between growing up without parents at different stages in pre-adulthood and individual physical and mental health in adulthood.

Results

Individuals who did not live with their parents during their minor years were more likely to report worse physical and mental health in adulthood, compared to those who lived with their parents. This difference was heterogeneous among different age stages and genders.

Conclusions

Absence of parents in the household has long-term impacts on the physical and mental health of children in adulthood, especially for females. The government should make feasible institutional arrangements to avoid the separation of minor children from their parents.

Family structure, birth order, and aggressive behaviors among school-aged boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

PURPOSE

To evaluate the associations between family structure, birth order, and aggressive behaviors among school-aged boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

METHODS

We conducted a matched case-control study. Data were retrieved from medical records at a psychiatry center in northern Taiwan. School-aged boys with ADHD who first visited the outpatient department at the psychiatric center between 2000 and 2011 were identified. The Child Behavior Checklist was used for aggressive behavior assessment. Boys with ADHD with T scores higher than 70 on the aggressive subscale were classified as cases and others with T scores lower than 70 were classified as controls at a 1:4 ratio. After controlling for other familial, personal, and parental factors, a multivariate conditional logistic regression was performed to evaluate the effects of family structure and birth order on aggressive behaviors of boys with ADHD.

RESULTS

277 cases and 1108 controls were included in the final analysis. Compared with living in a traditional family with both parents, living in a non-traditional family in which one or both parents were absent increased the risk of aggressive behaviors by 1.47-fold, with the highest risk for those in single parent families. Being the firstborn increased risk by 1.45-fold and the risk was higher when the firstborn had siblings.

CONCLUSIONS

Living in non-traditional families in which one or both parents were absent, and being the firstborn increased risk of aggression in school-aged boys with ADHD. Identification of this high-risk population and development of adequate preventive strategies are warranted.

Socio-economic differentials in the health-related quality of life of Australian children: results of a national study

OBJECTIVE

To examine differences in health-related quality of life (HRQL) of children living in different socio-economic contexts in Australia.

METHODS

Parental reports describing the HRQL and socio-economic status of a random national sample of 3,597 school-age children were obtained using the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) and a standardised socio-economic interview. Response rate was 70%.

RESULTS

Children in families of higher income, whose parents had more years of schooling and were employed and children who lived in two-parent, original families had significantly higher HRQL across a range of domains assessed by the CHQ.

CONCLUSION

Children from lower socio-economic backgrounds in Australia have a significantly more negative experience of health and wellness. Such differences may well increase unless deliberate political attention is given to addressing the widening differences in relative wealth in Australia.

Does material disadvantage explain the increased risk of adverse health, educational, and behavioural outcomes among children in lone parent households in Britain? A cross sectional study

OBJECTIVE

To test the hypothesis that material disadvantage explains the increased risk among children and young people of adverse health, educational, and behavioural problems associated with living in lone parent households in Britain

STUDY DESIGN

Secondary analysis of a cross sectional survey of a representative sample of British households with children and youthMain outcomes: Parent reported fair/poor health, longstanding illness and disability, statement of special educational needs, suspension and/or expulsion from school, and in trouble with the police.

PARTICIPANTS

Data were available on 15 636 (8049 boys and 7587 girls) aged 0-18 years in 8541 households in the third sweep (2001) of the British government's families and children study

RESULTS

Lone parenthood was associated with increased risk of health and educational problems, and antisocial behaviour among boys and girls in a logistic regression model adjusting for child's age alone. Adding age of main carer, number of dependent children, and child's rank in the household made little difference to the associations. Addition of housing tenure, household hardship index, and an interaction term for lone parenthood and hardship eliminated the relation with lone parenthood for all outcomes except parent reported health among girls. Similar results were obtained for households headed by lone parents for at least a year. An interaction effect of lone parenthood with hardship for parent reported health and statement of special educational needs was noted.

CONCLUSION

Adverse effects of lone parenthood on health, education, and antisocial behaviour were apparently explained by material disadvantage in this cross sectional sample of British households with children and youth.

Psychobehavioral effects of divorced mother-headed one-child families on children in China

Owing to the national "One Child per Family" policy in China, almost all children are from one-child families. Recent economic development has led to an increase in the number of children living in single parent families. These children may suffer from more mental stress than those living in two parent families. This study aims at clarifying psychobehavioral characteristics of boys and girls from mother-headed one-child families due to divorce. Three questionnaire studies, i.e., Eysenck Personality Questionnaire for Children (EPQ), Mental Health Test (MHT), and Preliminary Problems Conduct Test (PPCT) were conducted on 465 children, aged 9 to 12 years, in three elementary schools of Chengdu, China. Twenty-one boys and 26 girls from divorced families and 186 boys and 217 girls from non-divorced families were selected as study subjects. The results of the multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis indicated that boys from divorced families suffered from neurosis, loneliness, impulsiveness, rebellious tendencies and untruthfulness, whereas girls from divorced families suffered from loneliness, horrible feelings and oppressed feelings. It is suggested that the common psychobehavioral characteristic of both boys and girls from divorced families in China is loneliness; the characteristic specific of boys is "antisocial" personality and that of girls is "anxious" personality.