Family events and child behavior in late childhood: a cross-sectional study

Children's social behavior develops through diverse experiences. However, the relationship between children's experiences of celebratory events and their behavioral development has not been previously quantified. Therefore, this study aimed to quantitatively explore this relationship.

In 2020, a self-reported questionnaire was completed by 653 sixth-grade students (aged 11-12 years) and/or their caregivers in Nagoya, Aichi, a major metropolitan area in Japan. The main items surveyed were children's experiences with events celebrated by their family and their behavioral development. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was used to assess children's behavior. This questionnaire identifies behavioral and emotional problems and prosocial behavior. Multiple regression analysis was conducted with the number of family events experienced by children as the explanatory variable and their emotional and prosocial behavior as the objective variables.

Children from families who participated in fewer family events tended to have higher problematic behavior risk scores and lower prosociality scores compared with their counterparts. Compared with children who participated in more than 20 family events, those who participated in fewer than 10 family events had more than three times the risk for exhibiting problem behaviors (odds: 3.558, 95% CI: 1.252-10.111, p = .017) and prosocial problems (odds: 3.184, 95% CI: 1.726-5.876, p < .001). Conversely, children from families who participated in more family events tended to have lower problematic behavior risk scores and higher prosociality scores.

A higher number of family events may reduce the risk of behavioral problems in children and increase their prosociality. Enjoying family events may be beneficial for social adjustment.