Social-emotional and behavioral development problems in 1 to 2-year-old children in Northern Finland:reports of mothers, fathers and healthcare professionals

Abstract Background and aims: Growing evidence supports the existence of clinically significant problems in social-emotional/behavioral (SEB) development among infants and toddlers and the importance of early identification of these problems. There is a lack of research on the occurrence and identification of problems in the SEB domain among the Finnish general population of 1 to 2-year-old children. The present study examined these important issues. Given the dearth of earlier research knowledge, particular emphasis was focused on analyzing possible moderating effects of the assessed child’s and informant’s gender on the results. Subjects and methods: Oulu toddler (N = 208, age 18 months), Oulu infant (N = 227, age 12 months), and Oulu Province (N = 1008, age 12 months) samples were collected during 2008–2013 in collaboration with child health centers. Both mothers and fathers completed questionnaires assessing their child´s SEB development (e.g. the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment; Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006) and the family’s sociodemographic characteristics. Child healthcare nurse (CHCN) worry reports concerning the children’s development and family well-being were also gathered. Main results and conclusions: In parental ratings, girls obtained higher SEB competence scores than boys, whereas boys got higher SEB problem scores than girls, particularly among the toddler sample. Thus, boys may have an elevated risk of parent-reported problem behaviors and delays in SEB competences even before the age of 2 years. Compared to fathers, mothers were prone to rate the toddlers higher in both SEB competences and problems, especially with regard to externalizing behavior problems and problems in boys. Elevated interparental rating differences were associated with relatively elevated maternal parenting stress. Therefore, it is recommended to gather data on young children’s SEB development from both parents when possible and to focus clinical attention on the issue if the parental reports differ significantly. Parents and CHCNs seldom recognized SEB problems and delays in competency as problematical in 1-year-old infants, even in the case of infants who were screened to be in the of-concern range on the age-appropriate measure of SEB development. Thus, further efforts are needed for developing the identification of early problems in SEB development by both parents and preventive child healthcare professionals in Finland.Tiivistelmä Tausta ja tavoitteet: Kasvava näyttö tukee käsitystä, että kliinisesti merkittäviä sosioemotionaalisen ja käyttäytymisen (SEK) kehityksen ongelmia esiintyy jo vauva- ja taaperoikäisillä ja että näiden ongelmien varhainen tunnistaminen on tärkeää. SEK-kehityksen ongelmien esiintymisestä ja tunnistamisesta 1–2-vuotaiden väestössä Suomessa puuttuu tutkimustietoa. Tämä tutkimus arvioi näitä tärkeitä aiheita. Tutkimuksessa huomioitiin erityisesti sekä tutkittavan lapsen että arvioitsijan sukupuolen mahdollinen moderoiva vaikutus tuloksiin, koska aiempaa tutkimustietoa tästä näkökulmasta on vähän. Tutkittavat ja menetelmät: Oulu taapero (N = 208, ikä 18 kk), Oulu vauva (N = 227, ikä 12 kk) ja Oulun lääni (N = 1008, ikä 12 kk) -aineistot kerättiin vuosina 2008–2013 yhteistyössä lastenneuvoloiden kanssa. Sekä äidit että isät täyttivät lomakkeet, jotka arvioivat lapsen SEK-kehitystä (mm. the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment; Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006) ja perheen sosiodemografisia taustatekijöitä. Myös terveydenhoitajan raportit lapsen kehitykseen ja perheen hyvinvointiin liittyvistä huolista kerättiin. Päätulokset ja johtopäätökset: Vanhempien arvioimina tytöt saivat korkeampia pistemääriä SEK-taidoissa kuin pojat, kun taas pojat saivat korkeampia pistemääriä SEK-ongelmissa kuin tytöt, etenkin taaperoaineistossa. Pojilla saattaakin olla kohonnut riski vanhempien raportoimille käytösongelmille ja SEK-kehityksen viiveille jopa ennen 2 vuoden ikää. Isiin verrattuina äidit olivat taipuvaisia antamaan korkeampia pisteitä sekä SEK-taito- että -ongelmaosioissa taaperoikäisten aineistossa, etenkin koskien ulospäin suuntautuvia käytösongelmia ja poikien ongelmia. Suurentuneet eroavaisuudet vanhempien antamissa arvioissa olivat yhteydessä suhteellisesti kohonneeseen vanhemmuuden stressiin äideillä. Onkin suositeltavaa kerätä tietoa pienen lapsen SEK-kehityksestä kummaltakin vanhemmalta, jos mahdollista, ja kiinnittää kliinistä huomiota asiaan, jos vanhempien antamat tiedot eriävät merkittävästi. Vanhemmat ja terveydenhoitajat tunnistivat SEK-ongelmia ja taitojen puutteita harvoin huolenaiheiksi 1-vuotiailla, vaikka nämä vauvat olisivat seuloutuneet huolialueelle ikätasoon soveltuvalla SEK-kehityksen mittarilla. Tarvitaankin lisätoimia, jotta vanhemmat ja terveydenhuollon ammattilaiset oppivat paremmin tunnistamaan varhaisia SEK-kehityksen ongelmia Suomessa

Early vocabulary development:relationships with prelinguistic skills and early social-emotional/behavioral problems and competencies

Abstract The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate early vocabulary development and its relationships with prelinguistic communication skills and social-emotional/behavioral (SEB) problems and competencies. The participants were 58 healthy Finnish-speaking children (30 girls, 28 boys). First, the concurrent relationships were investigated at the age of 18 months. Second, the relationships between prelinguistic communication skills and SEB problems and competencies at 18 months, and subsequent vocabulary scores at 24 and 30 months, were examined. Parental reports on early vocabulary (MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories; MCDI), prelinguistic communication skills (The Infant-Toddler Checklist of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile; ITC), SEB problems and competencies (Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment; BITSEA) were gathered. Compared to boys, girls scored significantly higher on ITC Speech Composite at 18 months and expressive vocabulary measures at 18, 24, and 30 months. Vocabulary, as well as prelinguistic communication measures, correlated with SEB competencies at 18 months. Furthermore, vocabulary, as well as ITC Symbolic Composite and Total Score, correlated negatively with externalizing problem and SEB Total Problem scores. With regard to subsequent vocabulary development, all of the prelinguistic communication measures at 18 months correlated with vocabulary at 24 and 30 months. However, when accounted for gender and earlier vocabulary, only the associations with ITC Speech Composite and Total Score at 24 months remained significant. SEB Competencies at 18 months correlated positively, while externalizing problems at 18 months correlated negatively with vocabulary at 24 and 30 months, however, these associations did not remain significant, when accounted for gender and earlier vocabulary

Social-emotional/behavioural problems and competencies in toddlers:relationships with early vocabulary development

Abstract This longitudinal study aimed at showing the effect of early social-emotional/behavioural problems and competencies on vocabulary development in toddlers. The participants were 60 native Finnish-speaking healthy children (30 boys and 30 girls). Parental reports on the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) were gathered at the children’s age of 18 months. The Problem Total and Competence Total, as well as externalizing, internalizing and dysregulation problem domain, scores were calculated. Vocabulary development was assessed by a certified speech and language therapist at ages 24 and 30 months using the Receptive and Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Tests (ROWPVT-4 and EOWPVT-4). Compared to boys, girls obtained higher Competence Total scores and scored considerably higher in all the vocabulary measures. With regard to the relationships between early social-emotional/behavioural problems and vocabulary measures, Problem Total scores correlated negatively with receptive vocabulary scores at 24 months and expressive vocabulary scores at 30 months. Further analyses indicated that particularly externalizing problems were associated with slower vocabulary development. By contrast, Competence Total scores correlated positively with expressive vocabulary at 30 months. The same analyses were carried out separately for boys and girls. Mostly, the separate findings were in line with the results for the whole group of children