UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Ethnic differences in children's socioemotional difficulties: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study

Zilanawala, A; Sacker, A; Nazroo, J; Kelly, Y; (2015) Ethnic differences in children's socioemotional difficulties: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study. Social Science & Medicine , 134 pp. 95-106. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.04.012. Green open access

[thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S0277953615002415-main.pdf]
Preview
Text
1-s2.0-S0277953615002415-main.pdf

Download (467kB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper investigates ethnic differences in children's socioemotional difficulties and possible explanations for any observed inequalities. We used data collected from the fourth sweep of the Millennium Cohort Study when children were aged 7 years. We found that Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Black Caribbean children had significantly more socioemotional difficulties than White children. These differences were partially explained by the relative socioeconomic disadvantage of their families. After accounting for maternal and family environment factors, the differences for Pakistani children remained unexplained. In contrast, Black African children were the only ethnic minority group to have significantly fewer socioemotional difficulties. We investigated the role of four indicators of socioeconomic position in explaining these differences and found equivalised household income had the strongest influence on socioemotional difficulties, and that socioeconomic position associations with socioemotional difficulties were less apparent among Pakistani and Bangladeshi children. The association between adverse economic conditions and socioemotional difficulties was partially mediated by maternal psychological distress. In conclusion, unexplained ethnic differences in socioemotional difficulties were seen, with a disadvantage among Pakistani children and an advantage among Black African children. Our results point to the need to address economic deprivation among ethnic minority groups to reduce children's socioemotional difficulties.

Type: Article
Title: Ethnic differences in children's socioemotional difficulties: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.04.012
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.04.012
Language: English
Additional information: © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Keywords: Ethnicity, Millennium Cohort Study, Socioemotional difficulties
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1471633
Downloads since deposit
0Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item