Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, UK.
Tees Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust, York, UK.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020 Apr;29(4):467-477. doi: 10.1007/s00787-019-01348-y. Epub 2019 Jun 26.
Socioeconomic disadvantage has been linked to mental health difficulties in children and adolescents, although many children appear to do well despite exposure to financial adversity in childhood. Our study looked at the effects of family financial difficulty on children's mental health outcomes (n = 636) at 4-5 years in a multi-ethnic UK cohort, the Born in Bradford cohort. We considered potential parent and child variables promoting resilience in this population. Univariate linear regression was used to identify associations between family financial difficulty measured antenatally and child mental health difficulties measured by teacher-rated Strengths and Difficulties (SDQ) scores at 4-5 years. Hierarchical multivariate regression was used to test for potential moderating effects of parent and child factors. Mothers completed the General Health Questionnaire-28, Kessler-6 Questionnaire and questions related to parenting warmth, hostility and confidence. Parent-rated Infant Characteristic Questionnaires and teacher-rated Early Years Foundation Stage scores provided information on child temperament, literacy and physical development as potential moderators. Financial difficulty was associated with worse mental health outcomes in children. High parent warmth, high child literacy scores and physical development scores were all associated with positive child mental health outcomes at 4-5 years. In terms of protective effects, only maternal warmth was found to significantly moderate the relationship between financial difficulty and child mental health difficulties. The current study demonstrates that family financial difficulty is associated with poorer child mental health outcomes in a UK cohort of mothers and their school-aged children. It provides evidence of the positive relationships between warm parenting, child literacy and child physical development with mental health in young children. The study supports the finding that warm parenting moderates the relationship between family financial difficulty and interventions supporting this aspect of parenting may therefore provide particular benefit to children growing up in this context.
社会经济劣势与儿童和青少年的心理健康问题有关，尽管许多儿童尽管在童年时期面临经济逆境，但他们似乎表现良好。我们的研究着眼于家庭经济困难对儿童心理健康结果的影响（n=636），这是在一个多民族的英国队列——布拉德福德出生队列中进行的。我们考虑了在这个人群中促进韧性的潜在父母和儿童变量。单变量线性回归用于确定产前测量的家庭经济困难与 4-5 岁时由教师评定的长处和困难（SDQ）评分测量的儿童心理健康困难之间的关联。分层多元回归用于测试父母和儿童因素的潜在调节作用。母亲完成了一般健康问卷-28、凯斯勒-6 问卷以及与父母温暖、敌意和信心相关的问题。父母评定的婴儿特征问卷和教师评定的早期基础阶段评分提供了有关儿童气质、读写能力和身体发育的信息，作为潜在的调节剂。经济困难与儿童心理健康结果较差有关。高父母温暖、高儿童读写成绩和身体发育成绩均与 4-5 岁儿童积极的心理健康结果相关。就保护作用而言，只有母亲的温暖被发现显著调节经济困难与儿童心理健康困难之间的关系。目前的研究表明，在英国的母亲及其学龄儿童队列中，家庭经济困难与儿童心理健康结果较差有关。它提供了温暖的育儿、儿童读写能力和儿童身体发育与幼儿心理健康之间存在积极关系的证据。这项研究支持这样一种发现，即温暖的育儿方式调节了家庭经济困难与干预措施之间的关系，而支持这种育儿方式的干预措施可能会特别有益于在这种环境中成长的儿童。
