Impact of parent-child relationship and sex on trajectories of children internalizing symptoms.

Introduction: Parenting and parental-child relationship may lead children to develop behavior disorders that can affect many aspects of their later life. This study aimed to examine the impact of parent-child relationship and sex on the development of internalizing symptoms in children.

Methods: Childhood and Adolescent Behaviors in Long-term Evolution (CABLE) is a longitudinal healthy-lifestyle research for which 18 elementary schools were randomly selected respectively in Taipei and Hsinchu in Taiwan. Data on sex, parent-child relations, and internalizing symptoms from four waves of follow-up were analyzed: 2003 (9 year olds), 2006 (12 year olds), 2009 (15 year olds) and 2012 (18 year olds). A latent growth model was used to examine the impact of parental-child relationship and sex on the trajectory of children's internalizing symptoms.

Results: Results show that internalizing symptoms is more severe (β = 0.21, p < 0.01) and their growth rate faster (β = 0.15, p < 0.01) in girls than in boys. Results from latent growth model show that parent-child relationship is negatively related to the internalizing symptoms intercept (β = -0.59, p < 0.01) and is positively related to the internalizing symptoms slope (β = 0.18, p < 0.01).

Limitations: Self-reported measures were used. Parent-child relationship was only provided at 2003.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that girls are more susceptible to internalizing symptoms in puberty, and better parent-child relationship can have a protective influence although the protective impact reduced through time. Health professionals should be sensitive to sex, family functioning and provide positive parenting programs for children at risk for internalizing symptoms.