OBJECTIVETo investigate the influencing factors for psychological and behavioral problems in school-age twins and to provide a basis for reducing the incidence of these problems.

METHODSThe psychological and behavioral problems were assessed in 147 pairs of twins aged 6-12 years in Huhhot, China, using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales and Family General Condition Questionnaire were used to collect data.

RESULTSThe overall detection rate of psychological and behavioral problems in these children was 24.1%; the detection rate of thought problems (15.3%) was the highest, and the detection rate of physical discomforts (3.4%) was the lowest. According to the multiple logistic regression analysis, full-term birth or not was significantly associated with withdrawn behavior and total score on the CBCL (P<0.05); temperament type was significantly associated with thought problems and overall detection rate of psychological and behavioral problems (P<0.05); father's child-bearing age was significantly associated with thought problems (P<0.05); family cohesion was significantly associated with discipline violation (P<0.05); family adaptability was significantly associated with thought problems (P<0.05); family rearing patterns were significantly associated with socialization problems (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSChildren's temperament type, full-term birth or not, father's child-bearing age, family cohesion, family adaptability, and family rearing patterns are the main influencing factors for the psychological and behavioral problems in school-age twins.

Child ; Child Behavior Disorders ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Problem Behavior ; psychology ; Twins ; psychology

OBJECTIVEThe present study was designed to investigate the influence of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) on the mentality and behavior in children, and to compare post operative mentality and behavior in children receiving interventional therapy and congenital heart surgery.

METHODMentality and behavior of 232 children suffering from CHD were examined with Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) edited by XU Tao-yuan in 1992 and 100 sex, age, education and achievement-matched children with pneumonia were enrolled as controls.

RESULTSThe mentality and behavior abnormal rates of the boys and girls suffering from CHD were significantly higher than those of controls (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The behavior abnormities of the boys presented as depression, social flinch, physical complains, assault and violate rules. Whereas the girls presented as depression, social flinch, physical complains and violate rules. The total cursory mark of postoperative check result of the interventional and surgical children, both in girls and in boys, were significantly lower than those of the preoperative children (P < 0.05). The total and assault cursory mark of postoperative check result of children treated with interventional therapy were significantly lower than those of children treated with the surgical operations (P < 0.05). The abnormal rates of mentality and behavior positively correlated with the disease course.

CONCLUSIONSCHD is associated with increased abnormal mentality and behavior of the children. Early treatment, especially the interventional therapy can significantly improve the mentality and behavior of the children with CHD.

Child ; Child Behavior ; Child Behavior Disorders ; etiology ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; psychology ; Humans ; Male

INTRODUCTION: The study was performed to determine the psychological problems in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) while they were on steroid therapy, as compared to healthy children. METHODS: This prospective cohort study was conducted in a paediatric clinic of a tertiary hospital. Parents of the participants in the INS group and control group (comprising children without chronic illness) completed questionnaires using the Child Behavioural Checklist (CBCL). The CBCL measures a range of age-specific emotional and psychological problems, including internalising and externalising domains. Analyses of the CBCL scores between groups were done using Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: A total of 140 children were recruited with an equal number in the INS and control groups. There was a significant difference in the mean total CBCL scores between the INS group and the control group, specifically in the withdrawal, somatic, anxious and aggressiveness subdomains. Similar findings were demonstrated in correlation between total psychological problems and corticosteroid dosage. In the INS group, steroid dose and cushingoid features were found to have a significant positive association with internalising psychological problems. CONCLUSION Children with INS on corticosteroid treatment showed an increase in internalising and externalising scores, as compared to healthy children.
Child ; Humans ; Child Behavior Disorders/psychology* ; Nephrotic Syndrome/psychology* ; Problem Behavior/psychology* ; Prospective Studies ; Southeast Asian People ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use*

OBJECTIVEThe present study was designed to investigate the influence of viral myocarditis on mental behavior of the children.

METHODSMentality and behavior of the 178 children suffering from viral myocarditis were examined with Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) edited by Gong Yao-xian in 1986 and 104 sex, age, education and achievement-matched children with pneumonia or upper respiratory infection were enrolled as controls.

RESULTSThe mentality and behavior of the children with viral myocarditis were distinctly abnormal. The abnormal rates of boys and girls suffering from acute and deferment viral myocarditis were evidently higher than those of control children (P < 0.01). The behavioral abnormalities of boys were hypochondria, social difficulties, unwell of body and attack. Whereas, the girls presented hypochondria, unwell of body, social flinch and disobeyed discipline, which was significantly different from the control children. The total and hypochondria cursory mark of the second check result of deferment boys were evidently higher than those of the first check (P < 0.05). The total cursory mark of the second check result of deferment girls was higher than that of the first check (P < 0.05) and evidently higher than that of the acute second check result (P < 0.01). The abnormal rates of mentality and behavior correlated positively with the age of children and they were associated with the severity of the illness.

CONCLUSIONViral myocarditis evidently affected the mentality and behavior of children, which should be paid great attention to.

Acute Disease ; Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; psychology ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child Behavior ; psychology ; Child Behavior Disorders ; etiology ; psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Hypochondriasis ; etiology ; psychology ; Juvenile Delinquency ; psychology ; Male ; Myocarditis ; psychology ; virology ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Severity of Illness Index ; Social Behavior ; Virus Diseases ; psychology

Child ; Child Behavior Disorders ; etiology ; Cognition Disorders ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Sleep Apnea Syndromes ; psychology

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of a maternal education program based on the temperament theory on the temperamental goodness-of-fit between mother and child. METHOD: The research method was a nonequivalent, control group, non-synchronized design and the experimental period was from May 10, 2004 to July 24, 2004. The subjects were mothers who had children 3-4 years old who registered in eight kindergartens or infant schools in M city. Among the total 94 subjects, 47 were allocated as an experimental group and 47 were a control group. Using the SPSS/WIN 10.0 program, the data was analyzed by a Chi-square test, and t-test. RESULT: 1. After treatment with a maternal education program based on the temperament theory, the experimental group significantly decreased in scores for perceived children's behavior problems in comparison to the control group(t=-4.01, p<.001). 2. After treatment with a maternal education program based on the temperament theory, the experimental group did not significantly decrease in scores for parenting stress in comparison to the control group(t=-.85, p=.40). 3. After treatment with a maternal education program based on the temperament theory, the experimental group did not significantly decrease in scores for rejective parenting behaviors in comparison to the control group(t=-1.32, p=.19). CONCLUSION: A maternal education program based on the temperament theory is a useful intervention to decrease perceived children's behavior problems.
*Temperament ; Parenting/*psychology ; Mothers/*education/psychology ; *Mother-Child Relations ; Male ; Humans ; Female ; Child, Preschool ; Child Behavior Disorders/psychology ; Adult

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate weight and height status and their relationship with psychological problems among elementary schoolchildren. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 405 schoolchildren (211 boys and 194 girls, aged: 10-13 years), living in Seoul, Korea, participated in this study. The participants were divided into 3 groups according to their weight and height standard deviation score. Psychological assessments were performed using the Korean-Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). RESULTS: In this study, 34.4% of boys and 32.1% of girls showed dissatisfaction with their weight, whereas 26.2% of boys and 30.2% of girls showed dissatisfaction with their height. The obese group showed higher weight dissatisfaction than the normal or underweight groups (p < 0.001). The short stature group showed higher dissatisfaction in their height than the normal group (p = 0.01). There was no significant difference in total CBCL problems score according to weight or height status. The underweight and obese groups had higher score for social problems than normal weight group (p < 0.05 respectively). There were no significant differences in each CBCL problem score by height status. As a whole, the prevalence rate of a CBCL total problems score in the clinical range was 3 percent (12/405). These children showed no difference in terms of weight or height, compared with normal students. Among the factors related, only school performance was negatively correlated with the total problems score (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Approximately one-third of elementary schoolchildren were dissatisfied with their height or weight. Although their total CBCL psychological problem scores were closely related with school performance, they did not show any significant relation with height or weight status. Contrary to the general view, our study suggests that psychological problems of elementary schoolchildren may be related more with their school performance than their body physique.
Adolescent ; *Body Height ; *Body Weight ; Child ; Child Behavior/*psychology ; Child Behavior Disorders/psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Obesity/psychology ; Thinness/psychology

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between impulsivity and sleep disorders in children.

METHODSA total of 1 736 children at ages of 6 to 12 years were randomly sampled from five districts of Changsha. Their parents completed the questionnaires about children's sleep conditions and behaviors (using Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11th version).

RESULTSFive hundred and fifty-four children (31.9%) had sleep disorders. The incidence of sleep disorders in boys was significantly higher than that in girls (35.4% vs 28.3%; P<0.01). The scores of attentional, motor, and non-planning impulsiveness factors as well as the total score of Barratt Impulsiveness Scale in children with sleep disorders were significantly higher than those in children without (P<0.01). The incidence of daytime sleepiness (35.9%) in children with sleep disorders was significantly higher than that in children without (24.7%; P<0.01). The scores of attentional, motor, and non-planning impulsiveness factors increased with the grade of sleep disorders, and reached a peak at the fifth grade. The children with frequent sleep snoring showed higher scores of above three impulsiveness factors than children without sleep snoring or having rare snoring (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSSleep disorders are associated with impulsivity in children. It is thus essential to pay close attentions to children's sleep for children with relatively high impulsiveness.

Child ; Child Behavior Disorders ; physiopathology ; Electroencephalography ; Female ; Humans ; Impulsive Behavior ; physiopathology ; Male ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; physiopathology ; psychology

OBJECTIVETo explore the situation of smoking behavior among the students of middle school in Beijing, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Urumchi and to analyze the relationship between smoking behavior and several unhealthy behaviors together with psychological troubles to provide evidence in developing an early intervention plan.

METHODSThe National Health Education Institute (NHEI) of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided relevant data on all middle schools in the 4 cities and then U.S. CDC randomly sampled 100 common middle schools from them with a special sampling process. The core questionnaire developed by the experts from WHO and other countries was used in the survey among 9015 sampled students.

RESULTSAmong all the sampled students, 29.4% of them had ever attempted cigarettes smoking while 6.6% of them tried tobacco in the 30 days before survey, 27.0% of the students with smoking behavior began smoking at the age of 9 or younger, 31.8% had learned how to refuse smoking from school education. The students with smoking behavior were more likely to drink alcohol, use drugs, bully others, be injured, miss classes, and have some psychological troubles than those without smoking behavior.

CONCLUSIONThere were increasing trends noticed on the incidence of attempt and smoking cigarettes. Smoking was closely related to other unhealthy behaviors and psychological troubles. Comprehensive education activities on "no-smoking" should be implemented as early as possible among adolescents, as well as to promote training on life skills.

Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mental Disorders ; Smoking ; epidemiology ; Students ; psychology ; Substance-Related Disorders

OBJECTIVEThe present study investigated the behavioral patterns of autistic children during infancy to provide clues for early identification of childhood autism.

METHODSThe abnormal behaviors of 30 children with autism and 26 children with other developmental disorders in infancy were investigated.

RESULTSThe children with autism presented a series of abnormal behaviors, including no social smile, no eye contact and no respond to own name, and joint attention deficiency, which were distinguished from the children with other developmental disorders. The imitation and attachment behaviors were significantly different between the two groups. Repetitive motor actions and interest peculiarity were only seen in children with autism.

CONCLUSIONSThe children with autism may present a series of abnormal behaviors as early as in infancy. The abnormal behaviors facilitate early diagnosis of autism.

Autistic Disorder ; diagnosis ; psychology ; Child Behavior Disorders ; etiology ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Male