Early intervention program reduces stress in parents of preterms during childhood, a randomized controlled trial

Background: It is well documented that heightened levels of parenting stress have a negative influence on children’s socio-emotional and behavioral development. Parenting stress may therefore be regarded as an outcome variable in its own right. This study investigated whether a sensitizing intervention influences stress reported by parents of prematurely born children until the children were age nine. Methods: Preterm infants (N =146, birth weight <2,000 g) were randomized to intervention (N =72) with the Mother-Infant Transaction Program (MITP) or a preterm control group (N =74) that received standard hospital care. A term reference group comprised 75 healthy, full-term neonates. Parents reported on the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) when the children were 6 months, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 years old and on the PSI-Short Form (PSI-SF) at age 9. Main outcomes were the mother’s and father’s reports of total, child and parent-related stress. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were performed using linear mixed models (LMM), taking dependency in the data caused by twin pairs and repeated measures into account. Response rates were high across all follow-ups, and still reached 85% from mothers and 72% from fathers at 9 years. Results: Mothers in the intervention group reported better longitudinal development of child-related stress than mothers of preterm controls, as they perceived their children as being more adaptable and less moody throughout childhood until the age of seven. Less stress in the intervention group was revealed by cross-sectional analysis of maternal reports at all ages, while fathers reported similar differences at ages three and five. Parents in the intervention group reported stronger agreement on several stress scores on several occasions. Fathers with high interventional participation (mean 54%) reported significantly less stress at age nine than those who participated less. Both parents in the intervention group reported levels of stress similar to those experienced by the term reference group at all follow-ups, while differences between the preterm control and term reference groups increased. Conclusions: This early intervention reduces stress among parents of prematurely born children to a level reported by parents of term-born children and enhances agreement between parents

Early intervention influences positively quality of life as reported by prematurely born children at age nine and their parents; a randomized clinical trial

License: Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0).Background: The Tromsø Intervention Study on Preterms evaluates an early, sensitizing intervention given to parents of prematurely born children (birth-weight < 2000 g). The current study investigated the potential influence of the intervention on children’s self-reported and parental proxy-reported quality of life (QoL) at children’s age of nine. Methods: Participants were randomized to either intervention (PI, n = 72) or preterm control (PC, n = 74) in the neonatal care unit, while healthy term-born infants were recruited to a term reference group (TR, n = 75). The intervention was a modified version of the Mother-Infant Transaction Program, and comprised eight one-hour sessions during the last week before discharge and four home visits at 1, 2, 4 and 12 weeks post-discharge. The two control groups received care in accordance with written guidelines drawn up at the hospital. Participants and parents reported QoL independently on the Kinder Lebensqualität Fragebogen (KINDL) questionnaire. Differences between groups were analyzed by SPSS; Linear Mixed Models and parent–child agreement were analyzed and compared by intra-class correlations within each group. Results: On average, children in all groups reported high levels of well-being. The PI children reported better physical well-being than the PC children (p = 0.002). In all other aspects of QoL both the PI and the PC children reported at similar levels as the term reference group. PI parents reported better emotional wellbeing (p = 0.05) and a higher level of contentment in school (p = 0.003) compared with PC parents. Parent–child agreement was significantly weaker in the PI group than in the PC group on dimensions such as emotional well-being and relationships with friends (p < 0.05). PI parents reported QoL similar to parents of terms on all aspects except the subscale self-esteem, while PC parents generally reported moderately lower QoL than TR parents. Conclusions: This early intervention appears to have generated long-lasting positive effects, improving perceived physical well-being among prematurely born children and parent’s perception of these children’s QoL in middle childhood

Maternal Awareness of Adolescent Bullying Victimization in a Low-Income Context

The published manuscript is available at EurekaSelect via https://doi.org/10.2174/2210676609666190808094820.Background: Adolescents and parents often disagree about the perception of bullying victimization since adults tend to underestimate its occurrence. Objective: This study identifies factors that can influence maternal perception of bullying victimization experienced by her son/daughter in the past 12 months. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved a representative sample of in-school adolescents (n=669, 11-15-years) living in Itaboraí city, Brazil (mean age±SE: 13.01±0.07 years; 51.7% females). A 3-stage probabilistic sampling procedure (random selection of census units, eligible households and target child) generated sampling weights. Trained lay interviewers individually applied semi-structured questionnaires to mothers and adolescents in the households. Multivariable logistic regression analysis examined factors potentially influencing maternal perception of bullying victimization experienced by her son/daughter: adolescent gender and age, adolescent self-perceived bullying victimization, exposure to severe physical punishment by parents, internalizing/externalizing behaviour problems identified by the Youth Self-Report/YSR, maternal education and maternal anxiety/depression identified by the 20-item Self-Reporting Questionnaire/SRQ-20. Results: Univariable logistic regression analysis identified a strong association between adolescent self-perceived bullying victimization and maternal perception of bullying victimization experienced by her son/daughter. Multivariable models showed that adolescent perception influenced maternal perception when adolescents had no clinical internalizing behaviour problems and when mothers had higher education. Conclusion: Anxious/depressive adolescents may hide victimization incidents, while those with no problems probably reveal these incidents to the mother. Considering that maternal low education is an indicator of low socioeconomic status, which is associated with multiple stressors, less educated mothers may be more likely to interpret these incidents as a common part of growing-up

Do adolescents exposed to peer aggression at school consider themselves to be victims of bullying? The influence of sex and age

Introduction Exposure to peer aggression (PA) and bullying victimization (BV) are both expressions of peer victimization. Objectives In four age-sex groups, (1) Can exposure to PA and BV be considered distinct experiences? (2) To what extent do adolescents exposed to PA consider themselves bullying victims? and (3) What is the effect on BV of the number of PA events experienced? Methods This cross-sectional study evaluated a probabilistic community-based sample of 669 adolescents (11-15 years, 51.7% girls). A three-stage probabilistic sampling plan involved random selection of census units, eligible households, and one target child per household selected. A 15-item scale investigated exposure to PA events (physical aggression, verbal harassment, social manipulation) occurring more than once in the past six months. BV occurring more than once a week or most days in the past six months was investigated after presenting respondents with a BV definition that required them to feel harmed by their victimization experiences. Results Adolescents exposed to PA and/or BV reported PA only (76.2%), BV only (4.7%), and both (19.1%). Rates of BV among those exposed to PA were as follows: 11-to-12-year-old boys (22.7%), 13-to-15-year-old boys (9.7%), 11-to-12-year-old girls (46.5%), and 13-to-15-year-old girls (13.2%). Multiple logistic regression analysis (outcome = BV) found a significant interaction between PA, age, and sex. PA events had a significant effect on BV for all except older girls. Conclusion Exposure to PA and BV are different constructs; few older boys exposed to PA consider themselves bullying victims; and older girls are less affected by PA when it comes to BV

Cyber Harassment and Quality of Life

Research on bullying and harassment in Scandinavia has been going on for several decades, and is appearing in new frameworks and forms since the new categories of “cyber harassment” or “cyberbullying” has been introduced. Bullying is a phenomenon of great importance, as it seems to affect persons negatively in their everyday functioning. We designed a questionnaire on cyber harassment, which was answered by pupils, at five schools in Tromsø (N=878). This questionnaire included a section of questions concerning traditional forms of harassment and bullying, as well as a set of quality of life (QoL) questions. The main questions asked here are: 1) What is the prevalence in percentages of classical bullying and cyberbullying; 2) Are there gender and/or age differences; 3) What percentage of children bullied classically were also cyber-bullied; 4) In what way was the quality of life affected for those that were classically bullied or cyber-bullied? Our main finding is that students who report being cyber-harassed or cyber-bullied, report a significantly lower QoL-score than their non-harassed peers, and thus share the same negative characteristics in relation to quality of life as classical harassment and bullying. Cyberbullying is less common than classical bullying, but it now affects some 3.5% of the pupils, and nearly half of the cyberbullying comes in addition to traditional bullying

Home, school, and community violence exposure and emotional and conduct problems among low-income adolescents: the moderating role of age and sex

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to assess whether violence exposure is associated with emotional/conduct problems, when adjusting for confounders/covariates and controlling for comorbidity, and to investigate interactions between violence exposure and sex and/or age. Methods - This cross-sectional study evaluated a community-based sample of 669 in-school 11–15-year-olds. A three-stage probabilistic sampling plan included a random selection of census units, eligible households, and target child. Multivariable logistic regression investigated the effect of severe physical punishment by parents, peer victimization at school, and community violence on the study outcomes (adolescent-reported emotional/conduct problems identified by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire/SDQ) when controlling for confounders (resilience, parental emotional warmth, maternal education/unemployment/anxiety/depression) and covariates (age, sex, stressful life events, parental rejection). Results - Considering interactions, emotional problems were associated with community violence victimization among girls, while conduct problems were associated with severe physical punishment among the younger, suffering peer aggression among the oldest, bullying victimization among girls, and witnessing community violence among boys. Desensitization (less emotional problems with greater violence exposure) was noted among the youngest exposed to severe physical punishment and the oldest who witnessed community violence. Conclusion - Age and sex are moderators of the association between violence exposure and emotional/conduct problems. Interventions at local health units, schools, and communities could reduce the use of harsh physical punishment as a parental educational method, help adolescents deal with peer aggression at school and keep them out of the streets by increasing the usual five hours in school per day and making free sports and cultural/leisure activities available near their homes

Violence and child mental health in Brazil: The Itaboraí Youth Study methods and findings

Objectives: To demonstrate a study design that could be useful in low‐resource and violent urban settings and to estimate the prevalence of child violence exposure (at home, community, and school) and child mental health problems in a low‐income medium‐size city. Methods: The Itaboraí Youth Study is a Norway–Brazil collaborative longitudinal study conducted in Itaboraí city (n = 1409, 6–15 year olds). A 3‐stage probabilistic sampling plan (random selection of census units, eligible households, and target child) generated sampling weights that were used to obtain estimates of population prevalence rates. Results: Study strengths include previous pilot study and focus groups (testing procedures and comprehension of questionnaire items), longitudinal design (2 assessment periods with a mean interval of 12.9 months), high response rate (>80%), use of standardized instruments, different informants (mother and adolescent), face‐to‐face interviews to avoid errors due to the high frequency of low‐educated respondents, and information gathered on a variety of potential predictors and protective factors. Children and adolescents presented relevant levels of violence exposure and clinical mental health problems. Conclusions: Prevalence estimates are probably valid to other Brazilian low‐income medium‐size cities due to similarities in terms of precarious living conditions. Described study methods could be useful in other poor and violent world regions