Comparison of emotional and behavioral problems between preschool firstborn children across the transition to siblinghood and the only children / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To compare the emotional and behavioral characteristics of preschool firstborn children across the transition to siblinghood with the only children in a district of Chongqing.@*Methods@#Data were derived from a cohort study on firstborn children transition to siblinghood. Totally 882 firstborn children (3.58±1.25) years old and 329 only children (3.98±1.02) years old were recruited from two hospitals and 19 kindergartens in a district of Chongqing, respectively. Their mothers filled out the parental version of Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and self designed questionnaire.@*Results@#The overall scores of emotional and behavioral problems of firstborn children and only children were (25.17±18.82) and (31.75±18.64). The results of rank sum test showed that the scores of the firstborn children in all dimensions, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and overall emotional and behavioral problems were lower than those of the only children ( P <0.05). Chi square test results showed that the detection rates of internalizing, externalizing and overall emotional behavior problems in only children(12.77%, 13.07%, 14.59%) were higher than those in firstborn children(8.28%, 8.28%,8.16%) ( χ 2=5.62, 6.36, 11.09, P <0.05). Multiple linear regression showed that after adjusting for age, gender, family economic pressure, temperament type of children, family atmosphere and family type, the scores of internalizing problems, externalizing problems and overall problems of the only children were still higher than those of the firstborn children ( B =1.54, 2.32, 6.81, P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#The firstborn children across the transition to siblinghood show less emotional and behavioral problems than the only children, and the scores and detection rates of all types of emotional and behavioral problems of the firstborn children are lower than those of the only children.