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Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour

OBJECTIVE: A number of studies demonstrate a social gradient in behavioural problems, with children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds experiencing more behavioural difficulties than those from high-socioeconomic families. Antisocial behaviour is a heterogeneous concept which includes diverse behavi...

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Autores principales: Piotrowska, Patrycja J., Stride, Christopher B., Maughan, Barbara, Rowe, Richard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6369246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30788407
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100353
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author Piotrowska, Patrycja J.
Stride, Christopher B.
Maughan, Barbara
Rowe, Richard
author_facet Piotrowska, Patrycja J.
Stride, Christopher B.
Maughan, Barbara
Rowe, Richard
author_sort Piotrowska, Patrycja J.
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: A number of studies demonstrate a social gradient in behavioural problems, with children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds experiencing more behavioural difficulties than those from high-socioeconomic families. Antisocial behaviour is a heterogeneous concept which includes diverse behaviours such as physical fighting, vandalism, lying, disobedience and irritability. It remains unclear whether the mechanisms underlying social inequalities are similar across these different subtypes of antisocial behaviour. This study aimed to simultaneously test a range of individual, family and neighbourhood factors as mediators of the relationship between income and subtypes of antisocial behaviour. METHOD: Data on a UK representative sample of 7977 children and adolescents, aged 5–16, was analysed in a series of nested structural equation models. A range of antisocial outcomes, including irritability, aggression, and callous-unemotional traits, were measured. Income quintiles were used to indicate family socioeconomic status. A range of potentially mediating or confounding variables, such as family functioning and parental mental health, were also measured. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that unhealthy family functioning, neighbourhood disadvantage, stressful life events and children’s literacy difficulties were mediating variables contributing to the indirect effect of income on a range of antisocial behaviours. CONCLUSION: As expected family functioning accounted for a substantial proportion of the association between SES and antisocial behaviour, we also found evidence that child cognitive functioning might perform an important role. Our findings emphasise the importance of addressing the mechanisms underlying the association between SES and behavioural problems.
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spelling pubmed-63692462019-02-20 Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour Piotrowska, Patrycja J. Stride, Christopher B. Maughan, Barbara Rowe, Richard SSM Popul Health Article OBJECTIVE: A number of studies demonstrate a social gradient in behavioural problems, with children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds experiencing more behavioural difficulties than those from high-socioeconomic families. Antisocial behaviour is a heterogeneous concept which includes diverse behaviours such as physical fighting, vandalism, lying, disobedience and irritability. It remains unclear whether the mechanisms underlying social inequalities are similar across these different subtypes of antisocial behaviour. This study aimed to simultaneously test a range of individual, family and neighbourhood factors as mediators of the relationship between income and subtypes of antisocial behaviour. METHOD: Data on a UK representative sample of 7977 children and adolescents, aged 5–16, was analysed in a series of nested structural equation models. A range of antisocial outcomes, including irritability, aggression, and callous-unemotional traits, were measured. Income quintiles were used to indicate family socioeconomic status. A range of potentially mediating or confounding variables, such as family functioning and parental mental health, were also measured. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that unhealthy family functioning, neighbourhood disadvantage, stressful life events and children’s literacy difficulties were mediating variables contributing to the indirect effect of income on a range of antisocial behaviours. CONCLUSION: As expected family functioning accounted for a substantial proportion of the association between SES and antisocial behaviour, we also found evidence that child cognitive functioning might perform an important role. Our findings emphasise the importance of addressing the mechanisms underlying the association between SES and behavioural problems. Elsevier 2019-01-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6369246/ /pubmed/30788407 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100353 Text en © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Piotrowska, Patrycja J.
Stride, Christopher B.
Maughan, Barbara
Rowe, Richard
Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour
title Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour
title_full Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour
title_fullStr Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour
title_full_unstemmed Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour
title_short Mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour
title_sort mechanisms underlying social gradients in child and adolescent antisocial behaviour
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6369246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30788407
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100353
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