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Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study

A small proportion of children experience social-emotional difficulties from early childhood onwards. Longitudinal studies with nationally representative samples are needed to identify the prevalence and the characteristics of children and families persistently experiencing these difficulties. Secon...

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Autores principales: Swift, Ann, McConkey, Roy, Curry, Philip, Iriarte, Edurne Garcia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8392290/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34438549
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8080656
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author Swift, Ann
McConkey, Roy
Curry, Philip
Iriarte, Edurne Garcia
author_facet Swift, Ann
McConkey, Roy
Curry, Philip
Iriarte, Edurne Garcia
author_sort Swift, Ann
collection PubMed
description A small proportion of children experience social-emotional difficulties from early childhood onwards. Longitudinal studies with nationally representative samples are needed to identify the prevalence and the characteristics of children and families persistently experiencing these difficulties. Secondary analysis of data collected on over 7500 Irish children and with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as the primary indicator, found that 6% of children when they were five year olds and 8% when they were nine-years, had above threshold scores that warranted further investigation. A smaller proportion—2.9% had elevated scores at both ages. Logistic regression analyses found that children with one or more developmental disabilities were up to six times more likely to have sustained difficulties. There were also significant associations with the lower education attainment of primary caregivers and the socio-economic deprivation of families. Primary caregivers and teachers reported higher conflict in their relationships with these children. Although the number of Irish children presenting with continuing social-emotional difficulties is small, they can present an ongoing and future societal cost in terms of the impact on family relations and demands placed on educational, health and social services. This study identified the children and families who are at greatest risk and for whom targeted early intervention services could be provided.
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spelling pubmed-83922902021-08-28 Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study Swift, Ann McConkey, Roy Curry, Philip Iriarte, Edurne Garcia Children (Basel) Article A small proportion of children experience social-emotional difficulties from early childhood onwards. Longitudinal studies with nationally representative samples are needed to identify the prevalence and the characteristics of children and families persistently experiencing these difficulties. Secondary analysis of data collected on over 7500 Irish children and with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as the primary indicator, found that 6% of children when they were five year olds and 8% when they were nine-years, had above threshold scores that warranted further investigation. A smaller proportion—2.9% had elevated scores at both ages. Logistic regression analyses found that children with one or more developmental disabilities were up to six times more likely to have sustained difficulties. There were also significant associations with the lower education attainment of primary caregivers and the socio-economic deprivation of families. Primary caregivers and teachers reported higher conflict in their relationships with these children. Although the number of Irish children presenting with continuing social-emotional difficulties is small, they can present an ongoing and future societal cost in terms of the impact on family relations and demands placed on educational, health and social services. This study identified the children and families who are at greatest risk and for whom targeted early intervention services could be provided. MDPI 2021-07-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8392290/ /pubmed/34438549 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8080656 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Swift, Ann
McConkey, Roy
Curry, Philip
Iriarte, Edurne Garcia
Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study
title Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study
title_full Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study
title_fullStr Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study
title_full_unstemmed Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study
title_short Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study
title_sort social-emotional difficulties in irish children aged five and nine years: a national, longitudinal study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8392290/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34438549
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8080656
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