Aggressive behavior, emotional, and attention problems across childhood and academic attainment at the end of primary school

• Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Vol. 56; no. 5; pp. 837 - 846
• Main Authors: Tamayo Martinez, Nathalie, Tiemeier, Henning, Luijk, Maartje P. C. M., Law, James, van der Ende, Jan, Verhulst, Frank, Jansen, Pauline W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-05-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic Performance; Aggressiveness; Analysis; Behavior; Child; Child psychopathology; Child, Preschool; Children; Cohort analysis; Comorbidity; Educational Status; Emotions; Epidemiology; Government mandates; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental Disorders; Original Paper; Psychiatry; Schools; Attention problems; Academic attainment; Aggressive behavior; Emotional problems; Cohort study
• ISSN: 0933-7954; 1433-9285
• DOI: 10.1007/s00127-021-02039-3

Purpose
To assess whether aggressive behavior and emotional problems from early childhood onwards are related to academic attainment at the end of primary education, and whether these associations are independent of attention problems.
Methods
Data on 2546 children participating in a longitudinal birth cohort in Rotterdam were analyzed. Aggressive behavior, attention and emotional problems at ages 1½, 3, 5 and 10 years were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist. Academic attainment at the end of primary school (12 years of age) was measured with the CITO test, a national Dutch academic test score.
Results
Aggressive behavior from age 1½ to 10 years was negatively associated with academic attainment, but these associations attenuated to non-significance when accounting for comorbid attention problems. For emotional problems, first, only problems at 10 years were associated with poorer academic attainment. Yet, when accounting for attention problems, the association reversed: more emotional problems from 1½ to 10 years were associated with a better academic attainment. Attention problems at ages 1½ to 10 years were negatively associated with academic attainment, independent of comorbid emotional problems or aggressive behavior.
Conclusions
Attention problems across childhood are related to a poorer academic attainment, while emotional problems predicted better academic attainment. Moreover, the relationship between aggressive behavior and academic attainment was explained by comorbid attention problems. Future research should determine the mechanisms through which attention problems and emotional problems affect academic attainment, to inform strategies for the promotion of better educational attainment.