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Psychological differences between children with and without soiling problems

Carol Joinson1, Jon Heron, Ursula Butler

  • 1Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom. carol.joinson@bristol.ac.uk

Pediatrics
|May 3, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Children who soil frequently experience more behavioral and emotional issues, including bullying and antisocial behavior, compared to those who soil occasionally or not at all.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Psychology
  • Child Development
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Previous clinic-based studies linked childhood soiling to behavioral issues and low self-esteem.
  • Population-based data on the psychological impact of childhood soiling is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the prevalence of psychological problems in children experiencing childhood soiling.
  • To compare psychological issues among frequently soiling, occasionally soiling, and non-soiling children.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from 8242 children (aged 7-8) in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.
  • Collected parent-reported emotional/behavioral data and child-reported behavior, friendships, bullying, and self-esteem.
  • Compared psychological problem rates, adjusting for developmental delay, gender, socioeconomic factors, and life events.

Main Results:

  • Children who soil exhibit significantly more emotional and behavioral problems than controls.
  • Frequent soiling is associated with a higher burden of problems than occasional soiling.
  • Attention/activity problems, obsessions/compulsions, oppositional behavior, and bullying were notably high in frequently soiling children.

Conclusions:

  • Childhood soiling is significantly associated with increased behavioral and emotional problems, bullying, and antisocial activities.
  • The severity of psychological issues correlates with the frequency of soiling incidents.
Abstract

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