Early emotional and behavioral difficulties and adult educational attainment: an 18-year follow-up of the TEMPO study.
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.
['Zbar|Ariella|A|', 'Surkan|Pamela J|PJ|', 'Fombonne|Eric|E|', 'Melchior|Maria|M|']
D000124:Achievement D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D001007:Anxiety D002648:Child D003863:Depression D004522:Educational Status D004644:Emotions D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D008297:Male D000066553:Problem Behavior
Educational attainment Emotional difficulties Cohort study Epidemiology