Browsing by Author "Vehmas, Silja"

Objectives: One of the main environmental factors affecting child psychopathology risk is the socioeconomic status of the family. However, the strength of the association and the underlying mechanisms impacting this relationship are poorly understood. Research has also been challenged by varying definitions and metrics regarding the socioeconomic variables. In this study, we examine the relationship between the socioeconomic status of the family and internalizing and externalizing symptoms of school-aged children. We aim to answer the shortcomings in the research literature thus far and explore the factors that may potentially mediate and moderate the relationship between family socioeconomic status and child psychopathology. Methods: The sample of the study is a part of the longitudinal PREDO (The Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction) –cohort. In this study, data from the follow-up from children at the age of 7 to 11 years were used. Child’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Child Behavior Checklist) and family socioeconomic status (education, income and working status) were assessed with questionnaires filled out by the mother. The study sample consisted of 2184 children and their mothers. The relationship between family socioeconomic status and child psychopathology was examined with linear regression models, and the mediating effect of parenting sense of competence and mother’s depressive symptoms with the bootstrapping method. The moderating effect of child’s gender was explored by adding interaction terms between the SES variables and child sex in the regression analyses. Results and conclusions: Mother’s education, working status and family income were all associated statistically significantly with child psychopathology and were slightly more strongly related to externalizing than internalizing symptoms in children. Parenting sense of competence and mother’s depressive symptoms mediated these relationships partly. Gender moderated only the relationship between mother’s education and child’s externalizing symptoms, so that the effect was stronger in boys than girls. Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds experience more psychopathology and are therefore at a higher risk for later mental health problems. Even in a welfare state like Finland more attention should be paid and special support offered to families and children who are vulnerable due to their low socioeconomic background.