Kuruczova, D;
Klanova, J;
Jarkovsky, J;
Pikhart, H;
Bienertova-Vasku, J;
(2020)
Socioeconomic characteristics, family structure and trajectories of children's psychosocial problems in a period of social transition.
PLOS ONE
, 15
(6)
, Article e0234074. 10.1371/journal.pone.0234074.r006.
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Abstract
Data from the Czech part of the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood offer a unique opportunity to examine a period of changing socioeconomic structure of the country. Our aim was to analyse the association between socioeconomic status, family structure and children’s psychosocial problems at the age of 7, 11, 15 and 18 years in 3,261 subjects and compare our results with findings from western settings. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and its five subscales were used to assess individual problem areas (emotional symptoms, peer problems, hyperactivity, conduct problems) and prosocial behaviour. Socioeconomic status was represented by maternal education and three forms of family structure were identified: nuclear family, new partner family and single parent family. The SDQ subscale score over time was modelled as a quadratic growth curve using a linear mixed-effects model. Maternal university education was associated with a faster decline in problems over time for all five SDQ subscales. Problems in children from nuclear families were found to be significantly lower than in children from single parent families for all SDQ subscales with the exception of peer problems. Compared to nuclear families, children from new partner families scored significantly higher in hyperactivity and conduct problems subscales. The nuclear family structure and higher maternal education have been identified as protective factors for children’s psychosocial problems, in agreement with findings from western settings. Adopting a longitudinal perspective was shown as essential for providing a more complex view of children’s psychosocial problems over time.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Socioeconomic characteristics, family structure and trajectories of children's psychosocial problems in a period of social transition |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0234074.r006 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234074.r006 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2020 Kuruczova et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Keywords: | Prosocial behavior, Psychological and psychosocial issues, Children, Emotions, Schools, Europe, Psychometrics, Longitudinal studies |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10106917 |
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