Maternal educational practices and mental health disorders of school-age children

To investigate the association between emotional and behavioral difficulties in schoolchildren and maternal educational practices.

Participants and Setting: 631 mother-child pairs were evaluated in a poor urban district in Recife, northeastern Brazil. Cross-sectional study carried out between 2013 and 2014. It integrates a prospective cohort study designed to investigate the consequences of intimate partner violence that occurred during pregnancy, postpartum, and seven years after birth for the physical and mental health of women and their children. Maternal educational practices were assessed using the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC - mother-child version) and the child's behavioral and emotional disorders through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) mother-version. The association was estimated through crude and adjusted prevalence ratios, using Poisson regression considering the 95% confidence interval.

The prevalence of violent maternal educational practices was 91.8% (572/631) being 89.7% (566/631) of psychological aggression and 75.6% of physical aggression, subdivided into corporal punishment (73.5%), physical maltreatment (35.8%) and severe physical maltreatment (1.7%). Corporal punishment (Adjusted PR 1.5; CI 95%: 1.1-2.1; p = 0.010) and severe physical maltreatment (Adjusted PR 1.9; CI 95%: 1.3-2.8; p = 0.002) were associated with emotional and behavioral difficulties in schoolchildren.

The high prevalence of violent maternal educational practices, especially corporal punishment and severe physical maltreatment is associated with emotional and behavioral disorders in children. Therefore, it is necessary to interventions that promote parental support and effective use of non-violent discipline in conducting the educational process to establish healthier family relationships and to prevent/mitigate the impact of emotional and behavioral problems in children.