Social-Emotional Problems Among 3-Year-Olds Are Associated With an Unhealthy Lifestyle: A Population-Based Study

Introduction: Little attention has been paid to the association between preschool children's social-emotional problems and lifestyle at the population level.

Objective: This study aimed to overcome this knowledge gap by investigating to what extent children's social-emotional problems are associated with their lifestyle and if there are any gender differences.

Methods: This cross-sectional, population-based study used data from the regional Salut Register in northern Sweden, including 7,179 3-year-olds during 2014–2017. Parents responded to a questionnaire including the 36-month interval of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE) and questions regarding family and lifestyle characteristics. Single and multiple logistic regression were used to assess the association between children's social-emotional problems and multiple family lifestyle characteristics.

Results: More reports of social-emotional problems were found among children who did not have parents living together or had markers of an unhealthy lifestyle. Children who ate vegetables less frequently, whose parent/-s brushed their teeth less often and did not read to them regularly were more likely to have social-emotional problems. Playing outdoors <3 h during weekdays and >1 h of sedentary screen time during weekends increased the risk of social-emotional problems among boys only, while >1 h of sedentary screen time during weekdays increased the risk among girls. When it comes to lifestyle and gender differences, a high proportion of the 3-year-olds had an unhealthy lifestyle, more so for boys than for girls. The dietary quality and tooth brushing were somewhat more adequate for the girls than for the boys, but boys spent more time playing outdoors compared to the girls.

Conclusions: This study provides us with an important overview picture of the family life situation of three-year-olds, including those with social-emotional problems. Such problems were significantly associated with markers of unhealthy lifestyle, with significant gender differences. Therefore, this study suggests that in order to maintain children's social-emotional ability and support children at risk of problems, public health intervention programs should have a broader perspective on improving children's lifestyle rather than merely focusing on their social and emotional problems, and the gender differences found may be taken in account.

ROLE OF FIRST-YEAR MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT IN BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN

Drawing on economic models of child development and attachment relationship perspectives, this study examined the effect of maternal employment in the first year after childbirth on subsequent behavioral and cognitive development in low-income children. Analyses of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 411) revealed that despite the accompanying family income gains, maternal employment in the first year after childbirth adversely affected caregiver-reported internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of Hispanic, Black, and White children at ages 3 and 5 years. This study also examined how paternal participation in childcare might affect children's outcomes. Results indicate that greater paternal participation eased the adverse impacts of maternal employment on internalizing behavior problems. There was no evidence that maternal employment was associated with children's memory cognitive functioning or that paternal involvement moderated children's cognitive development. These findings suggest that when early intervention programs are designed to assist low-income families, enhancing supports (e.g., paternal involvement or parental leave) for working mothers during their child's first year may be valuable for young children's healthy development.

Little evidence that time in child care causes externalizing problems during early childhood in Norway

Associations between maternal reports of hours in child care and children's externalizing problems at 18 and 36 months of age were examined in a population-based Norwegian sample (n = 75,271). Within a sociopolitical context of homogenously high-quality child care, there was little evidence that high quantity of care causes externalizing problems. Using conventional approaches to handling selection bias and listwise deletion for substantial attrition in this sample, more hours in care predicted higher problem levels, yet with small effect sizes. The finding, however, was not robust to using multiple imputation for missing values. Moreover, when sibling and individual fixed-effects models for handling selection bias were used, no relation between hours and problems was evident.

Implications for the development of children in over 11 hours of centre-based care

BACKGROUND

With increasing numbers of women joining the evening/night-time and extended-hour workforce, there is a need for quality childcare during these hours. This project, conducted in Japan, sought to compare the effects of expanded childcare on the development and adaptation of 648 young children after 2 years in care.

METHOD

All parents in 41 governmentally licensed child care facilities in Japan completed a survey on the child-rearing environment at home, their feelings of self-efficacy, and the presence of support for childcare to provide a baseline of information. Two years later, 648 of these parents were surveyed again. Childcare professionals evaluated the development of children at both times.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of multiple regression analysis indicate that factors in the home environment, not length of centre-based care, explained developmental risks 2 years later.

Does amount of time spent in child care predict socioemotional adjustment during the transition to kindergarten?

To examine relations between time in nonmaternal care through the first 4.5 years of life and children's socioemotional adjustment, data on social competence and problem behavior were examined when children participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care were 4.5 years of age and when in kindergarten. The more time children spent in any of a variety of nonmaternal care arrangements across the first 4.5 years of life, the more externalizing problems and conflict with adults they manifested at 54 months of age and in kindergarten, as reported by mothers, caregivers, and teachers. These effects remained, for the most part, even when quality, type, and instability of child care were controlled, and when maternal sensitivity and other family background factors were taken into account. The magnitude of quantity of care effects were modest and smaller than those of maternal sensitivity and indicators of family socioeconomic status, though typically greater than those of other features of child care, maternal depression, and infant temperament. There was no apparent threshold for quantity effects. More time in care not only predicted problem behavior measured on a continuous scale in a dose-response pattern but also predicted at-risk (though not clinical) levels of problem behavior, as well as assertiveness, disobedience, and aggression.

Peer and teacher ratings of third- and fourth-grade children's social behavior as a function of early maternal employment

BACKGROUND

One of the more controversial issues related to maternal employment in the United States concerns the timing of entry into the workforce and its effect on children, particularly during the first year of the child's life. Some studies show deleterious effects on children, such as increases in aggression and noncompliance, while others document few negative and even positive effects of early employment.

METHODS

This study examined the long-term effects of maternal employment during the child's first year of life on the social behavior of 171 third- and fourth-grade children in two-parent families. The moderating effects of child gender and social class were investigated. The extent to which stability in alternative care arrangements statistically explained links between early maternal employment and child outcomes was tested.

RESULTS

After controlling for child gender, and maternal ethnicity, social class, and current employment status, third- and fourth-grade children whose mothers were employed during their first year of life evinced more acting out and less frustration tolerance and were nominated more often by peers for 'hitting' and 'being mean' than children whose mothers were not employed. There was some evidence that these associations were moderated by child gender and social class: boys, but not girls, whose mothers were employed during the first year were subsequently rated by teachers as acting out more than other children, and were also more likely to be nominated by peers for hitting. Higher nominations for hitting were only found in the working class. Finally, there was partial evidence that the number of alternative child-care arrangements during the first year accounted for the links between early maternal employment and subsequent child outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

These results are congruent with extant research that posits a risk of early employment on socioemotional development, but show that this risk is partially attributable to child-care instability.

Maternal versus nonmaternal care and seven domains of children's development

A series of meta-analyses was conducted on findings from 59 studies to examine the linkage between maternal versus nonmaternal care, 7 indices of child behavior, and 10 potential moderators. Results indicate that children receiving nonmaternal care do not differ from children receiving maternal care on any of the 7 indices. Year of publication and psychometrics of outcome index were found to moderate the linkage between maternal versus nonmaternal care and attachment classification and between maternal versus nonmaternal care and child adjustment, respectively. Examination of the simultaneous impact of extent of care and age of entry on attachment behaviors revealed the moderating impact of the latter. Although it cannot be concluded that nonmaternal care has no impact on children, most of the analyses suggest that in and of itself, or in interaction with one factor at a time, nonmaternal care does not affect child development.

Teacher-rated psychiatric problems in 8-year-old children and parental quality of previous day-care

In this study behavioural/emotional problems in 95 8-year-old schoolchildren were assessed by using the Rutter Parent Questionnaire (RB2) for teachers and related to earlier day-care periods. A relatively low proportion of behavioural/emotional problems was found among those children whose parents reported only moderate dissatisfaction with the first day-care period. Behavioural/emotional problems were associated with high numbers of day-care periods and short day-care periods. The proportion of problems was high among children with a moderate mean length of periods as compared with those with no day-care short periods or very long periods. The differences in behavioural/emotional problems were related to the degree of parental satisfaction with the quality, as well as to the continuity of day-care. However, the results of logistic regression analysis found no significant associations related to stability when the background factors were controlled for. These results may reflect the consequences of continuity versus discontinuity in the relationships between children, parents and caregivers.

Quantity of nonmaternal care and boys' problem behavior/adjustment at ages 3 and 5: exploring the mediating role of parenting

To examine the effects of quantity of nonmaternal care across the first 3 and 5 years of life on problem behavior and affective-cognitive indices of adjustment, and to test the hypotheses that parenting mediates effects of nonmaternal care, 120 working- and middle-class, two-parent Caucasian families rearing firstborn sons were studied. More time in nonmaternal care across the first 3 and 5 years predicted more mother-reported externalizing problems when children were ages 3 and 5 (and somewhat more father-reported externalizing problems at age 5), as well as more negative mothering and less positive fathering during the toddler years. Effects of nonmaternal care on externalizing problems became insignificant once observed parenting was controlled, thereby providing evidence of the mediational effects of parenting. More time in nonmaternal care across the first 5 years predicted more negative adjustment on a composite lab-based measure of affective-cognitive functioning at age 5 (e.g., attributional bias, social problem solving, preference for negative story plots), and this effect was only modestly attenuated upon controlling for parenting. Results are discussed in terms of related research and the current context of child care in America.

Child care quality and children's behavioral adjustment: a four-year longitudinal study

Studies of extensive, full-time child care in infancy and early childhood have shown negative, positive and no effects on children's social-emotional development. The current study explored the prediction of children's behavioral adjustment 4 years after assessments of daycare center quality (e.g. caregiver-child interactions, caregiver-to-child ratios) and of the home and family environment (e.g. parental stress, discipline). Participants included 141 school-age children (73 girls) and their employed mothers (91% Euro-American) who had made use of full-time child care when the children were toddlers or preschoolers. Home environment factors and earlier behaviors were predictive of individual differences in adjustment 4 years later, particularly for maternal ratings of child behaviors. By contrast, indicators of center quality were generally unrelated to mother and teacher ratings of behavioral adjustment.

Effects of nonparental child care on child development: an update

OBJECTIVE

To review the published literature on the effects of nonparental and out-of-home care on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

METHOD

Narrative literature review.

RESULTS

Although substantial controversy persists, the accumulated evidence suggests that nonparental care does not necessarily have either beneficial or detrimental effects on infants and children, although it can have such effects. In some circumstances, careproviders establish relationships with children that have significant effects on development, and this increases the importance of ensuring that careproviders are well trained, behave sensitively, and are stable rather than ephemeral figures in children's lives. Nonparental care is associated with behaviour problems (including aggression and noncompliance) when the care is of poor quality and opportunities for meaningful relationships with stable careproviders are not available, however.

CONCLUSION

The effects of out-of-home care vary depending on the quality of care as well as the characteristics of individual children, including their age, temperaments, and individual backgrounds.

Development of stomach-ache and headache during middle childhood: co-occurrence and psychosocial risk factors

Development of somatic symptoms and associations with psychosocial risk factors were investigated in a longitudinal study of Norwegian children aged 4-10 years. Complaints of stomach-ache only were associated with emotionally well-adapted children, and mothers with low education and high emotional support. Children complaining of headache only behaved well as preschoolers, showed a tendency towards high achievement motivation at school and their mothers were employed outside the home. Children with the co-occurrence syndrome seemed to constitute a separate entity. They differed from the others as the syndrome was associated with previous behavioural and emotional problems, current emotional disturbances and mothers with less support. Family demographic stability, further child health problems and school factors were not associated with the co-occurrence syndrome.