title: Early emotional and behavioral difficulties and adult educational attainment: an 18-year follow-up of the TEMPO study.
abstract: Children who experience behavioral difficulties often have short and long-term school problems. However, the relationship between emotional difficulties and later academic achievement has not been thoroughly examined. Using data from the French TEMPO study (n = 666, follow-up 1991, 1999, 2009, mean age = 10.5, sd = 4.9 at baseline), we studied associations between internalizing and externalizing symptoms in: (a) childhood and (b) adolescence and educational attainment by young adulthood (< vs. ≥ high school degree), accounting for participants' age, sex, juvenile academic difficulties, and family income. High levels of childhood (but not adolescent) internalizing and externalizing symptoms were associated with low educational attainment; however, in multivariate models only the association with childhood internalizing symptoms remained statistically significant (OR = 1.75, 95 % CI 1.00-3.02). Supporting children with internalizing problems early on could help improve their long-term educational attainment.
authors.affiliation: Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Ariella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zbar
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Surkan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fombonne
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, INSERM, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique (IPLESP UMRS 1136), 75012, Paris, France. maria.melchior@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melchior
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000066553:Problem Behavior / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Cohort study; Educational attainment; Emotional difficulties; Epidemiology