May 4, 2012 A new study suggests clinicians might be able to
identify children at risk of later emotional or behavioral
problems by paying attention to a few key signs during early
well-child check-ups. Researchers found that boys with early
sleep problems and girls with language and speech delays tended
to have more emotional problems in adolescence. "Speaking little
is an early sign of having problems, maybe because these early
problems hamper social functioning, leading to emotional
problems later on," explained author Sijmen Reijneveld, M.D.,
head of the Department of Health Sciences at University Medical
Center Groningen in the Netherlands. He added that early sleep
problems in boys might be due to fears or other emotional
problems. In addition, in both genders, having a mother who
smoked during pregnancy, having parents with low education, and
having divorced or single parents increased the odds of
behavioral problems during adolescence. Emotional problems were
identified in teens who reported feeling w