Low birth weight, developmental milestones, and behavioral problems in Chinese children and adolescents

This study examined the association of low birth weight (LBW) and developme ntal milestones with behavioral and emotional problems in a general populat ion sample of 3344 Chinese children and adolescents aged 6-16 years in 1997 , Parents completed a self-administrated questionnaire including informatio n about birth weight and develop mental milestones (i.e. lifting the head u p, tooth eruption, speech, walking and bedwetting cessation), and the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL). Teachers completed the Teacher's Report Form (TRF) to assess classroom behavior problems. Results indicated that LBW and delayed developmental milestones were significantly associated with an inc reased risk for almost all parent- and teacher-reported behavioral problems after controlling for the potential effects of child's gender, age and bir th order, parental ages at birth, education, occupation, complications at b irth and number of children in the family. LBW was significantly associated with delay in achieving all developmental milestones including lifting of the head, tooth eruption, sitting without support, walking without help, sp eech as saying words with meaning, and bedwetting cessation. It is conclude d that LBW and delayed early childhood development may predict the occurren ce of a wide range of behavioral and emotional problems in later childhood and adolescence. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved .