FREQUENCY OF PARENTAL REPORT OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR IN CHILDREN DECREASES WITH INCREASING MATERNAL AGE AT DELIVERY

Child behavior problems were assessed in 1377 3-yr.-old twin pairs wit h the Child Behavior Check List from Achenbach (translated into Dutch language by Verhulst). The association between problem scores and mate rnal age at delivery of the twins was analyzed with statistical contro l for several potential confounding variables: birth weight of twins, maternal smoking during pregnancy, being breast or bottle fed and soci oeconomic status. After controlling for all available confounding cova riates, a significant linear effect for maternal age was left. Especia lly Externalizing behavior problems as well as the separate categories that constitute Externalizing, i.e., Aggressive, Oppositional, and Ov eractive, appeared to decrease continuously with increasing maternal a ge. This was true for bath boys and girls as well as for first and sec ondborn rains. Evidence in support of a biological explanation of the association between maternal age and child behavior problems, is prese nted.