Early childhood psychological problems predict a poor sense of coherence in adolescents: a 15-year follow-up study

Abstract

The aim of the present 15-year follow-up was to study the association between childhood psychological symptoms and sense of coherence (SOC) in adolescence. Destructive behaviour at three years, attention problems and thought problems at 12 years, attention problems, anxiety/depression, delinquency and somatic complaints at 15 years predicted a poor SOC at 18 years. Problems reported by adolescents themselves explained a poor SOC much more often than problems reported by parents. The identification of early childhood behavioural problems helps us to identify children at risk of ill-being in adolescence since problems seem to persist unchanged until that period of life.