Health and behaviour in four-year-old children

A health control of an unselected population of 2447 4-year-old-children included a thorough somatic examination as well as an analysis of child upbringing practice and problems. The relation between the children's physical health, as defined by presence or absence or "functionally important health problems" and the children's behaviour, as reported by their mothers, was elucidated. On the whole, children with health problems were not perceived as more troublesome, although children with some special kinds of disturbances, e.g. neurological and dental, constituted problems in certain areas, e.g. toilet training and hyperactivity. The use of blame as a method of upbringing was very frequent and especially frequent in children with dental defects and visual disturbances. The perception of behaviour problems and the use of methods in upbringing were the same in children with newly detected health problems as in children with previously known health problems. The implications for the Child Health Service are to identify these risk-groups, to advise and support them in order to reduce parent-child conflicts.