Family Psychosocial Factors Research Articles

Child Care and Early Education in Australia - the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Child Care and Early Education in Australia - the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Effects of Family Environmental Factors on Preschool Children's Motor

The purpose of this study was to delve into the influences of both family physical and psycho-social environmental factors on children's motor abilities. The study subjects consisted of 1,220 kindergarteners and their parents from 53 registered public and private kindergartens in Taipei County. The parents were requested to fill out Children's Family Environment and Their Motor Abilities Survey Form. Then, their children's motor abilities were tested. Statistical methods including one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test was used to analyze the acquired data. The main findings of the study were as follows: 1. Children with an easy access to sports equipment at home showed better performance in explosive strength, agility, coordination, muscular endurance and speed. 2. Children living in the vicinity of safe playgrounds showed better performance in balance, explosive strength, agility, muscular endurance and speed. 3. Children with more than three siblings showed better performance in balance, explosive strength, agility, muscular endurance and speed. 4. Children whose fathers’ were good at sports showed better performance in agility and muscular endurance. 5. Children whose mothers' were good at sports showed better performance in balance and muscular endurance. 6. Children with more than four playmates of the same age in the neighborhood showed better performance in agility, coordination, muscular endurance and speed. The findings of the present study concludes that children with an easy access to sports equipment at home, living in the vicinity of safe playgrounds, with more than three siblings, whose parents' were good at sports or who have more than four playmates of the same age in the neighborhood showed better performance in motor abilities.

Menopause and myocardial infarction risk among employed women in relation to work and family psychosocial factors in Lithuania

Objectives To assess the relationship between menopause and age at menopause and the risk of the first non-fatal myocardial infarction taking into account the possible influence of psychosocial job characteristics, marital stress, level of social support, educational level, occupation, age and traditional ischemic heart disease risk factors. Methods Population-based case–control study among 35–61 years old employed women in Kaunas, Lithuania. Totally 122 myocardial infarction cases and 371 controls were interviewed in 2001–2004. The logistic regression analysis was performed. Results Younger age at menopause (≤40 years) showed a tendency for increased myocardial infarction risk (OR = 1.78; 95% CI 0.39–8.07) after adjustments for age, smoking, arterial blood pressure and body mass index. However further adjustment for job demands, job control, social support, marital stress, education level, occupation decreased the risk (OR = 1.16; 95% CI 0.27–5.01). In the fully adjusted model OR for postmenopausal women was 1.15; 95% CI 0.48–2.75. The association between low job control and myocardial infarction showed step increase, women in the lowest quartile of job control had the highest myocardial infarction risk (OR = 4.51; 95% CI 1.90–10.75), while those in the second and third quartiles showed modest risk. Marital stress was an independent myocardial infarction risk factor for employed women (adjusted OR = 2.36; 95% CI 1.07–5.19). Conclusions Menopausal status and younger age at menopause showed only a tendency for increase in myocardial infarction risk among the employed women in Kaunas, Lithuania. Adverse psychosocial job characteristics as low job control, as well as marital stress play more important role in the development of the first myocardial infarction.

Obesity of Children and Youth in Association with Psychosocial Factors of Family

ISEE-0447 Background and Objective: The worldwide increase in obesity prevalence is an epidemic. Obesity in childhood is a risk for obesity and obesity related diseases in adulthood. The purpose of the study was to evaluate an association between body mass index (BMI) and obesity and selected family psychosocial factors. Methods: We assessed overweight (BMI [kg.m−2] over 90th percentile) and obesity (BMI over 97th percentile) in children on the basis of 5th and 6th Slovak nationwide cross-sectional anthropometric surveys (1991, 2001) in representative samples (118,400 and 35,600 children and youth), 2 to 18-year-olds of both genders. Psychosocial data of families (education and occupation of parents, ethnicity and completeness of family) were obtained by questionnaire. The programs Microsoft Excel and S-Plus were used for analysis. Results: During the decade the mean value of BMI significantly increased only in 9 to 15-year-old boys (0.3–0.4 kg.m−2, P < 0.001) and in 7–11 year-old girls (0.15–0.4 kg.m−2, P < 0.01–P < 0.001); BMI mean value of boys in the age of 2–8 and 16–18 remain unchanged and in 12–18 year old girls was significantly decreased. Overweight and obesity was negatively associated with parental education. Significant negative relationships were identified between the incidence of overweight and maternal educational level in girls (P = 0.0025). Multiple linear regression did not confirm a significant association with ethnicity (Romany children and adolescents) and completeness of family. Studied socio-economic factors acted together with other patterns in the family (nutritional, physical activities, etc.). Conclusion: Although family social factors, particularly maternal educational level is related to children overweight, the associations vary according age and gender. Protection and promotion of children and youth healthy development requires optimal conditions based on knowledge of the interaction between the developing organism and influencing exogenous and endogenous factors. Supported by VEGA 1/4274/07.

Adolescent dietary patterns are associated with lifestyle and family psycho-social factors

Dietary intake during adolescence contributes to lifelong eating habits and the development of early risk factors for disease in adulthood. Few studies have examined the dietary patterns of adolescents and the social and environmental factors that may affect them during this life stage. The present study describes dietary patterns in a cohort of adolescents and examines their associations with socio-economic factors, as well as parental and adolescent risk factor behaviours. A semi-quantitative FFQ was used to assess study adolescents' usual dietary intake over the previous year. Information was collected on family functioning and various socio-economic and risk factor variables via questionnaire. Adolescents visited the study clinic for anthropometric measurements. The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study (Raine Study), Perth, Western Australia. Adolescents (n 1631) aged 14 years from a pregnancy cohort study. Factor analysis identified two distinct dietary patterns that differed predominantly in fat and sugar intakes. The 'Western' pattern consisted of high intakes of take-away foods, soft drinks, confectionery, French fries, refined grains, full-fat dairy products and processed meats. The 'healthy' pattern included high intakes of whole grains, fruit, vegetables, legumes and fish. ANOVA showed that the 'Western' dietary pattern was positively associated with greater television viewing and having a parent who smoked, and was inversely associated with family income. The 'healthy' pattern was positively associated with female gender, greater maternal education, better family functioning and being in a two-parent family, and was inversely associated with television viewing. The study suggests that both lifestyle factors and family psycho-social environment are related to dietary patterns in Australian adolescents.

Family Psychological Factors in Relation to Children's Asthma Status and Behavioral Adjustment at Age 4

The objectives of this study were to determine whether family psychosocial factors influenced asthma development by age 4, and whether family factors and early wheezing illness were associated with behavioral adjustment at age 4. Participants were 98 children enrolled in an intervention study at 9-24 months and followed to age 4. Baseline evaluations assessed infants' respiratory illness severity, family psychosocial characteristics, and parental risk factors for asthma development. Active asthma categorization at age 4 utilized both parent report and objective data. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Caregiver single-parent status, a composite of baseline family stresses, and early wheezing illness severity were associated with active asthma at age 4. The contribution of prenatal smoke exposure and early hospitalization to active asthma varied with racial/ethnic group membership. Maternal mental health and family stresses predicted CBCL scores at age 4, whereas early illness severity and hospitalization were unrelated to CBCL scores. CBCL scores were not elevated for children with active asthma at age 4. Family factors consistent with a negative emotional environment were associated with both active asthma and adjustment problems at age 4, suggesting that both outcomes may be influenced by a common factor.

Prevalence and Correlates of Early Onset Asthma and Wheezing in a Healthy Birth Cohort of 2- to 3-Year Olds

The combined contribution of neonatal, perinatal, and maternal health, demographic, environmental, and family psychosocial factors to early onset asthma and wheezing in a healthy birth cohort was examined. Participants included 1,158 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse parents of 2- and 3-year olds who completed mailed questionnaires. Asthma and wheezing prevalence was 8.4 and 8.1%, respectively. Asthma during pregnancy, smoking in the home, and being male increased risk for asthma diagnosis and wheezing whereas social support minimized risk for both. Shorter gestational age, exposure to violence, and maternal anxiety increased risk for wheezing. The negative impact of smoking in the home was greatest for children with shorter gestational ages and mothers with asthma during pregnancy. Findings confirm and extend previous work documenting demographic risks and highlight smoking, violent events, and social support in early onset asthma and wheezing. Findings illustrate the need for ecologically based interventions to treat asthma and wheezing in young children.

Parental Mental Health, Childhood Psychiatric Disorders, and Asthma Attacks in Island Puerto Rican Youth

Previous research documents an association of poor parental mental health with asthma in children. This study aims to determine whether the associations between parental mental health problems and childhood asthma attacks persist after controlling for childhood anxiety and depression and other confounding factors. A community household sample of youth ages 4 to 17 years and their primary caregivers from the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was studied to determine the associations between parental mental health and childhood asthma attacks. Regression models that predicted asthma attacks in youth controlled for parental mental health problems, childhood anxiety and depression, zone of residence, and parents' age, education, and perception of poverty. After adjusting for children's depressive and anxiety disorders as well as other important confounders, associations between parental depression, suicide attempts, ataque de nervios, and history of mental health treatment and asthma attacks in offspring, by parental report, persisted. Additionally, the frequency of parental mental health problems was associated with children's asthma attacks. Parents with mental health problems were more likely to report histories of asthma attacks in their children compared with parents without mental health problems in Puerto Rico. These associations were not attributable to internalizing disorders in youth but persisted independent of childhood psychopathology and other confounding factors. Clinicians and researchers should recognize the relations between poor parental mental health and childhood asthma and explore the potential role of family psychosocial and behavioral factors related to the manifestation of the disease.

Predicting developmental outcomes at school entry using a multiple-risk model: Four American communities.

From an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), early childhood development occurs within the multiple contexts of the home, the school, and the neighborhood, and aspects of these environments can contribute to the development of adjustment problems. Thus, the study of adjustment must be embedded in analyses of the contextual risks to which children are exposed (Sameroff & Seifer, 1990). Risk factors such as low socioeconomic status (SES); single-parent family status; ethnic minority status; family history of psychological, substance use, and legal problems; marital discord; and lack of social support have all been shown to be related to an increased likelihood of psychological problems in children (Liaw & Brooks-Gunn, 1994; Sameroff, Seifer, Barocas, Zax, & Greenspan, 1987; Yoshikawa, 1994). Not all children raised in such contexts develop adjustment problems, however (Cowen et al., 1992), and no one factor alone accounts for children's adjustment problems (Sameroff & Seifer, 1990). Studies of multiple risk factors indicate that an increase in the number of risk factors experienced by a child results in an increased likelihood of that child developing adjustment problems (Rutter, 1979). Therefore, in predicting children's psychological adjustment, it is important to consider the effects of multiple risk factors within a theoretical model. Indeed, all risk factors do not have equivalent meaning, and they may represent varying levels of conceptualization. In the present study, the combined effects of demographic, family psychosocial, and neighborhood risk factors on children's development were examined in families from four American communities. The present study involved a test of the hierarchical and unique contributions of three major dimensions of social context on the behavioral, academic, and psychological outcomes of a culturally and geographically diverse combination of child populations.

Family environment and glycemic control: a four-year prospective study of children and adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

An onset cohort of children and adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and their parents were studied. Aspects of family environment were evaluated at study inception, and their influence on the initial level of, and change in, glycemic control over 4 years was examined. Family measures of expressiveness, cohesiveness, and conflict were linked to differences in the longitudinal pattern of glycemic control. In particular, the encouragement to act openly and express feelings directly (expressiveness) seemed to ameliorate deterioration of glycemic control over time in both boys and girls. Boys were especially sensitive to variations in family cohesiveness and conflict; those from more cohesive and less conflicted families showed less deterioration in glycemic control. This study demonstrated the important influence of family psychosocial factors present at diabetes onset on glycemic control in children and adolescents over the first 4 years of IDDM.

Alcoholism and family factors. A critical review.

This chapter provides a critical review of empirical research in the area of alcoholism and family psychosocial factors. The review describes the early conceptualizations of the alcoholic family system as a unitary phenomenon and summarizes a series of laboratory studies using simulation games that sought to identify salient characteristics of alcoholic family interaction. The chapter traces the evolution of family psychosocial research and highlights the current interest in the field in articulating alcoholic family typologies. The discussion focuses on two major bodies of research: (1) a collection of studies that form the basis for a theory of alcoholism and family development; and (2) an ongoing series of projects that address the relationship between different patterns of alcohol consumption and family interaction. Topics addressed in the research include the possible adaptive functions of alcohol in family systems, the relationship between phasic drinking patterns and family regulatory dimensions, and the effects of family response style on long-term family functioning and intergenerational transmission of alcoholism.

Family life and cardiovascular risk: implications for the prevention of chronic disease.

While individual life style has been related to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, as well as other chronic diseases, little attempt has been made to explore the influence of family life style upon risk factor development. This review examines findings from behavioral and epidemiological studies which suggest a relationship between family environmental factors and levels of risk characteristics. Concepts provided by a Family Systems Approach are used to direct attention to crucial family issues which influence this relationship in light of the potential for prevention of cardiovascular disease. We conclude that preventive approaches could be improved in three ways: by directing primary prevention efforts toward pre-school children within the context of their family, by directing adult intervention efforts toward consideration of their marital life style in relation to each risk factor, and by directing future research efforts toward clarifying the currently elusive relationship between family psychosocial factors and cardiovascular risk.