Citation

Jaspers M, de Winter AF, Veenstra R, Ormel J, Verhulst FC, Reijneveld SA. J. Adolesc. Health 2012; 51(6): 637-642.

Affiliation

Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.jaspers@umcg.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.03.017

PMID

23174476

Abstract

PURPOSE: A disputed social status among peers puts children and adolescents at risk for developing a wide range of problems, such as being bullied. However, there is a lack of knowledge about which early predictors could be used to identify (young) adolescents at risk for a disputed social status. The aim of this study was to assess whether preventive child health care (PCH) findings on early childhood predict neglected and rejected status in early adolescence in a large longitudinal community-based sample. METHODS: Data came from 898 participants who participated in TRAILS, a longitudinal study. Information on early childhood factors was extracted from the charts of routine PCH visits registered between infancy and age of 4 years. To assess social status, peer nominations were used at age of 10-12 years. RESULTS: Multinomial logistic regression showed that children who had a low birth weight, motor problems, and sleep problems; children of parents with a low educational level (odds ratios [ORs] between 1.71 and 2.90); and those with fewer attention hyperactivity problems (ORs = .43) were more likely to have a neglected status in early adolescence. Boys, children of parents with a low educational level, and children with early externalizing problems were more likely to have a rejected status in early adolescence (ORs between 1.69 and 2.56). CONCLUSIONS: PCH findings on early childhood-on motor and social development-are predictive of a neglected and a rejected status in early adolescence. PCH is a good setting to monitor risk factors that predict the social status of young adolescents.

Language: en