Children of mothers who are at psycho-social risk. Mental health, behaviour problems and incidence of child abuse at age 8 years.

Of the 1575 pregnant women registered at the public Antenatal Health Care Service in the city of Linköping, Sweden, during 1983, an index-group of 78 women were identified who met specific well-defined psychosocial risk-criteria related to drug addiction, mental insufficiency, and particular social circumstances of possible relevance to problems of pregnancy and early child development. Seventy-eight pregnant women who did not meet the inclusion criteria were used as a reference group. The present study was an 8-year follow up in which 47 of the original index children and 57 of the original reference children were examined on indices of mental health, and the presence of child abuse. Their mental health was assessed on the basis of a Symptom and Behaviour Interview (SBI) with the mother and a Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) completed by the mothers and the teachers. The incidence of child abuse was obtained from Social Welfare records. The index children displayed significantly poorer mental health as assessed by the SBI and the CBCL, had a more negative self-image, and child abuse had been investigated in 30% of the index families compared to 1% in the reference families. The study suggests, based on the suboptimal development of the risk children, that screening for early psychosocial risk factors should be done routinely and be combined with early interventions.