Long-term outcomes of mental health problems and socioeconomic deprivation among preschool children – morbidity, school performance, healthcare utilization and healthcare related costs

Emotional and behavioral problems are among the most common mental health problems in preschool children.

These problems can persist and lead to negative outcomes such as illness, poor school performance and increased healthcare utilization.

Low socioeconomic status is a risk factor for future negative outcomes and is also associated with mental health problems.

High preschool quality has a positive effect on children’s development and can exert a compensatory role for children living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.

There is a knowledge gap in how mental health problems and socioeconomic deprivation interact and affect long term development in young children.

The purpose of this project is to explore this interaction and how it affects negative outcomes including morbidity/disability, poor school performance, healthcare utilization and healthcare related costs among preschool children.

The project is a follow-up study of a population-based Forte-co-financed study, including 7400 preschool children (3-5-years) in Uppsala.

The children will be followed through National registers until 12-15-years of age and costs on healthcare utilization will be estimated.

Mental health problems have been assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and socioeconomic deprivation has been measured through items on parental education/employment and the Socioeconomic Structure Compensation Index.

Survival analyses will be used for causal modelling of mental health problems and socioeconomic deprivation in relation to outcomes.

The project is unique given the paucity of register-based research on long-term outcomes of mental health problems and socioeconomic deprivation during preschool years.

It can add knowledge on the usefulness of the SDQ and socioeconomic measures for identification of children at risk for future negative outcomes and facilitate decision-making for the compensatory assignment of preschools and the child health care system in Sweden.