Children of psychosocial risk-mothers: life events, social interaction, and behaviour problems at the age of 8 years.

Abstract

The number of stressful life events experienced as measured on the modified Swedish version of Coddington's questionnaire, and the presence of behaviour problems assessed by Achenbach's Child Behavior Check List (CBCL) were studied in 45 eight-year-old children of identified psychosocial risk-mothers. The mothers' social network was estimated using the Swedish version of Undén and Orth-Gomér's Interview Schedule for Social Interaction (ISSI). These mothers had been identified during early pregnancy. A control group of 57 children of the same age and their mothers without the presence of psychosocial risk-criteria was used as reference. The results indicated that the index children had experienced significantly more life events, and displayed significantly more behaviour problems than the reference children. The mothers in the index group had a significantly poorer social network than the mothers in the reference group. The study suggests that children of mothers, identified early on psychosocial risk criteria develop suboptimally. Therefore, early interventions are of great importance.