Abstract
This study used data from wave four of the United Kingdom (U.K.) Millennium Cohort Study to examine whether there is an individual (i.e., maternal education) and area-level social disadvantage (i.e., neighborhood deprivation) gradient to difficulties in social-emotional well-being (SEW) in 7-year-old English children. We then investigated to what extent maternal psychological distress (Kessler 6 score) explains the relationship between social disadvantage indicators and boys’ and girls’ SEW difficulties. Subjects consisted of 3661 child–mother dyads (1804 boys and 1857 girls). Results discerned gender differences in the effect social disadvantage indicators have on child SEW difficulties. Maternal education had a comparable effect on boys’ and girls’ SEW difficulties, but a steeper neighborhood deprivation gradient was evident for boys’ SEW difficulties compared to girls’ SEW difficulties. The effect of each social disadvantage indicator on boys’ and girls’ SEW difficulties was for most part direct and strong (p ≤ 0.001) rather than through maternal psychological distress, suggesting that the theoretical framework was incomplete. Here we demonstrate that where children are positioned on the social disadvantage gradient matters greatly to their SEW. Improving the living conditions and health of mothers with psychological distress may offer a pathway to improve child SEW.
Highlights
Social-emotional well-being (SEW) relates to a child’s self-perception and their ability to interact with others
With regards to gender differences, boys recorded higher Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores than girls, and 12.3% of boys were classified as having a SEW difficulty compared to 8.5% of girls (p ≤ 0.001)
We revealed that the strength of association between social disadvantage and child SEW difficulties varied by social disadvantage indicator
Summary
Social-emotional well-being (SEW) relates to a child’s self-perception and their ability to interact with others. Evidence shows that social disadvantage is a strong predictor of child SEW difficulties [4] Research in this area has studied the inverse effects of individual characteristics of social disadvantage, such as low family income or maternal education, on child SEW [5,6]. These indicators of social disadvantage do not capture the physical neighborhood environment within which socially disadvantaged children live (i.e., high social disorder, poor housing conditions, limited access to services and aesthetic neighborhood features) which can predispose them to SEW difficulties [7,8,9].
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