BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS OF VERY-LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT CHILDREN

Parent and clinician reports of behaviour problems among very low-birt hweight (VLBW) children at 3 1/2 years of age were studied in relation to indicators of neonatal cerebral damage, cognition and social facto rs. VLBW children had more depressed behaviour and more internalizing problems by parent report, and also scored significantly more often wi thin the clinical range on total problem scores, than children in the comparison group. Neither neonatal cerebral ultrasound nor neurologica l examinations were directly associated with behavioural outcome. Cere bral damage was related to cognitive development. Cognition directly i nfluenced behaviour problems according to clinician report, while the home environment did so according to parent report. The authors sugges t that depressed behaviour of preschool VLBW children might be associa ted with parental reactions to the birth of a VLBW child, and that the ir attention problems might be linked indirectly to brain damage via c ognitive impairments.