The relationship between behavioral problems and family environment in preschool-age children / 临床儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the relationship between behavioral problems and family environment in preschool-age children. Methods Children between 4-6 years of age in the kindergartens of Zhongshan city were randomly selected. Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to assess the behavioral problems in children, and self-designed general situation question-naire and Family Environment Scale-Chinese Version (FES-CV) were applied to evaluate the family environment. Results A total of 3445 children were enrolled and 29.87%children showed behavioral problems. There were signiifcant differences in the scores of feeling expression, family conlfict, intelligence, recreation, organization and control between children with and without behavior problems (P<0.001). The scores of feeling expression, intelligence, recreation, organization and control were signiif-cantly higher and the score of family conlfict was lower in healthy children in comparison with children with behavior problems. Through multivariate logistic regression, it was suggested that female (OR=2.04), non-urban population (township OR=1.45, rural OR=1.51), non-local Zhongshan resident (OR=1.39), father’s low educational level (technical secondary school OR=1.77, junior high school OR=2.17, primary school and below OR=3.24), discipline styles (indulgent OR=1.47, mixed OR=1.37), family conlfict (OR=1.13) were independent risk factors for behavioral problems (P<0.05). Mother’s age over 30 (OR=0.74) or over 40 (OR=0.46), feeling expression (OR=0.94) and intelligence (OR=0.87) were independent protective factors for behavioral prob-lems (P<0.05). Conclusions Behavioral problems in preschool-age children are closely related to family environment, which needs to be paid more attention.