Hostname: page-component-669899f699-qzcqf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T23:22:24.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mental Health of Preschool Children and their Mothers in a Mixed Urban/Rural Population

III. Latent Variable Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jim Stevenson ,
Margaret J. J. Thompson  and
Edmund Sonuga-Barke
Jim Stevenson*
Affiliation:
University of London
Margaret J. J. Thompson
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Edmund Sonuga-Barke
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
*
Dr J. Stevenson, Behavioural Sciences Unit, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH. Fax: 0171 831 7050
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

There is a lack of clear and explicit models of the way various family and social influences on children's behaviour interact with factors such as temperament to produce behaviour disturbance in young children.

Method

The following measures had been obtained on a total population sample of 1047 families with a 3-year-old child: the child's perceived cuddliness, difficult temperament, mother's unhappy childhood, maternal disturbance, social class, behaviour problems and overactivity. A latent variable analysis using the LISREL 7 program was applied to the data.

Results

A model that allowed the latent variables child ‘temperament’ and ‘mother's mental state’ to have separate additive effects on ‘child adaptation’ proved an excellent fit (goodness of fit index = 0.956). This model suggests that there is a common factor (‘child adaptation’) underlying behaviour problems and overactivity. Using this model 72% of child adaptation in boys could be explained. For girls however temperament and mother's mental state accounted for only 30% of the variance in child adaptation.

Conclusion

There is a need to investigate different mechanisms for the origins of behaviour problems in preschool boys and girls.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 168 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 26 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Achenbach, T. M., Verhulst, F. C., Baron, G. D., et al (1987a) A comparison of syndromes derived from the child Behaviour Checklist for American and Dutch boys aged 6–11 and 12–16. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28, 437–453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Achenbach, T. M., Verhulst, F. C., Baron, G. D., et al (1987b) Epidemiological comparisons of American and Dutch children: I. Behavioural/emotional problems and competencies reported by parents for ages 4–16. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 317–325.Google Scholar
Achenbach, T. M., Verhulst, F. C., Edelbrock, C. S., et al (1987c) Epidemiologic comparisons for American and Dutch children: II. Behavioural/emotional problems reported by teachers for ages 6–14. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 326–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentler, P. M. & Bonett, D. G. (1980) Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, K. A. (1989) Structural Equations with Latent Variables. New York: John Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, M. H., Offord, D. R., Hofman, H. G., et al (1987) Ontario Child Health Study 1. Methodology. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 826–831.Google Scholar
Bretznitz, Z. & Friedman, S. L. (1988) Toddler's concentration: does maternal depression make a difference? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 267–280.Google Scholar
Buss, A. R. & Plomin, R. (1984) Temperament: Early Developing Personality Traits. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. & Bromet, E. (1992) Maternal predictors of behaviour disturbance in preschool children: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 941–946.Google Scholar
Cox, A., Puckering, C., Pound, A., et al (1987) The impact of maternal depression on young children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28, 917–928.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, E. A. & Davies, P. T. (1994) Maternal depression and child development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 73–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Earls, F. & Jung, K. G. (1987) Temperament and home environment characteristics as causal factors in the early development of childhood psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 491–498.Google Scholar
Earls, F. & Richman, N. (1980) The prevalence of behaviour problems in 3-year-old children of West Indian parents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 21, 99–106.Google Scholar
Ghodsian, M., Zajicek, E. & Wolkind, S. (1984) A longitudinal study of maternal depression on behaviour problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 25, 91–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. (1978) Manual for the General Health Questionnaire. Slough: NFER.Google Scholar
Graham, P. & Stevenson, J. (1987) Temperament and psychiatric disorder. The genetic contribution to behaviour in children. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 21, 267–274.Google Scholar
Jarman, J. (1984) Underprivileged areas: validation and distribution of scores. British Medical Journal, 289, 1587–1592.Google Scholar
Jenkins, S., Bax, M. & Hart, H. (1980) Behaviour problems in preschool children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 21, 5–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, S., Owens, C., Bax, M., et al (1984) Continuities of common behaviour problems in preschool children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 25, 75–89.Google Scholar
Joreskog, K. G. & Sorbom, D. (1986) PRELIS: A Preprocessor for LISREL. Mooresville, Indiana: Scientific Software.Google Scholar
Joreskog, K. G. & Sorbom, D. (1988) LISREL7: A Guide to the Program and Applications. Chicago, Ill: SPSS Inc.Google Scholar
Kastrup, M. (1977) Urban-rural differences in 6-year-olds. In Epidemiological Approaches in Child Psychiatry (ed. Graham, P. J.), pp. 181–194. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Loehlin, J. C. (1987) Latent Variable Models: an Introduction to Factor, Path and Structural Analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Long, J. S. (1983a) Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Newbury Park, Cal: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, J. S. (1983b) Covariance Structure Models: an Introduction to LISREL. Newbury Park, Cal: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicol, A. R., Stretch, D. & Fundudis, T. (1993) Preschool Children in Troubled Families: Approaches to Intervention and Support. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Offord, D. R., Boyle, M. H., Szatmari, P., et al (1987) Ontario Child Health Study. 2. Six-month prevalence of disorder and rates of service utilization. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 832–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plomin, R. & Daniels, D. (1987) Why are children from the same family so different from one another? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 10, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prior, M. (1992) Childhood temperament. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 249–280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quinton, D. (1988) Urbanism and child mental health. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 11–20.Google Scholar
Registrar General (1980) Classification of Occupations. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Richman, N. (1974) Effects of housing on pre-school children and their mothers. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 10, 1–9.Google Scholar
Richman, N., Stevenson, J. & Graham, P. (1975) Prevalence of behaviour problems in 3-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12, 5–33.Google Scholar
Richman, N., Stevenson, J. & Graham, P. (1982) Preschool to School: A Behavioral Study. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Richters, J. E. (1993) Depressed mothers as informants about their children: a critical review of the evidence for distortion. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 485–499.Google Scholar
Routh, D. (1978) Hyperactivity. In Psychological Management of Paediatric Problems, Vol 2. (ed. Magrab, P.). Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1987) Temperament, personality and personality disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 443–458.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J. & Whitmore, K. (1970) Education, Health and Behaviour. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Yule, B., Quinton, D., et al (1975) Attainment and adjustment in two geographical areas. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 520–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanson, A., Oberklaid, F., Pedlow, R., et al (1991) Risk indicators: assessment of infancy predictors of preschool behavioural maladjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 609–626.Google Scholar
Schaughency, E. A. & Lahey, B. B. (1985) Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of child deviance: roles of child behavior, parental depression and marital satisfaction. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 718–723.Google Scholar
Stevenson, J. (1990) The evaluation of collaborative services with health visitors for preschool children with behaviour problems. In Health Visitor Based Services for Preschool Children with Behaviour Problems. ACPP Occasional Publication Series No. 2. (ed. Stevenson, J.). London: Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Stevenson, J. (1992) Evidence for genetic aetiology in hyperactivity in children. Behaviour Genetics, 22, 337–344.Google Scholar
Stevenson, J., Richman, N. & Graham, P. (1985) Behaviour problems and language abilities at three years and behavioural deviance at eight years. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 215–230.Google Scholar
Stevenson, J. & Simpson, J. (1989) The factor structure of the 30 item version of the General Health Questionnaire. Journal of Infant and Reproductive Psychology, 7, 39–46.Google Scholar
Thomas, A., Chess, S. & Birch, H. (1968) Temperament and Behaviour Disorders in Children. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, M. J. J. & Bellenis, C. (1992) A joint assessment and treatment service for the under fives. Work with the health visitor in a child guidance clinic – Paper 1. Method. Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry Newsletter, 14, 221–227.Google Scholar
Tronick, E. Z. & Field, T. (1986) Maternal Depression and Infant Disturbance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google ScholarPubMed
Verhulst, F. C., Akkerhais, G. W. & Althaus, M. (1985a) Mental health in Dutch children: (I) a cross-cultural comparison. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 72(suppl.), 323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhulst, F. C., Berden, G. F. M. G. & Sanders-Woudstra, J. A. R. (1985b) Mental health in Dutch children: (II) the prevalence of psychiatric disorder and relationship between measures. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 72(suppl.), 324.Google Scholar
Verhulst, F. C., & Althaus, M. (1988) Persistence and change in behavioural/emotional problems reported by parents of children aged 4–14: an epidemiological study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 77(suppl.), 339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, H. & Carmichael, A. (1985) Depression in mothers in a multi-ethnic urban industrial municipality in Melbourne. Aetiological factors and effects on infants and preschool children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 277–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yule, W. (1982) The epidemiology of child psychopathology. In Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, Vol 5 (eds Lahey, B. B. & Kazdin, A.) New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.