Socioeconomic Health Inequalities in Adolescent Metabolic Syndrome and Depression: No Mediation by Parental Depression and Parenting Style

Known groups validity of the SPARK36: To guide nurse-led consultations for the early detection of child developmental and parenting problems

AIM

Early detection of child developmental and parenting problems is important for timely prevention. The SPARK36 (Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids aged 36 months) is a novel broad-scope structured interview guide aimed at assessing parenting concerns and needs for support for child developmental and parenting problems, using the parental and professional's (Youth Health Care nurses) perspective. The applicability of the SPARK36 in practice was already demonstrated. Our aim was to evaluate its known groups validity.

DESING/METHODS

SPARK36 data were collected in a cross-sectional study in 2020-2021. The known groups validity was assessed by testing two hypotheses: the SPARK36 risk assessment shows a higher risk of parenting and child developmental problems in children (1) from parents with a lower socioeconomic status and (2) from families with ≥4 risk factors for child maltreatment. To test the hypotheses, Fisher's exact tests were applied.

RESULTS

In total, 29 Youth Health Care nurses from four School Health Services performed SPARK36-led consultations with 599 parent-child pairs to assess the risk for child developmental and parenting problems. Both hypotheses were accepted at a significant p level.

CONCLUSION

The results of the known groups validity support the hypothesis that the SPARK36 risk assessment for child developmental and parenting problems is carried out in a valid way. Future research is needed to assess other aspects of the validity and reliability of the SPARK36.

IMPACT

This is a first step in validating the instrument for use during a nurse-led consultation with parents of 3-year-olds in Flemish School Health Services. Thereby, SPARK36 supports the nurses in accomplishing their assignment, making a risk assessment, and contributes to quality of care.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

This study aimed to evaluate the known groups validity of the SPARK36. Therefore, it was not conducted using input from the public or the patient population.

Association Between Parental Parenting Style Disparities and Mental Health: An Evidence From Chinese Medical College Students

Background

The associations between parental parenting styles and adolescents' development and health problems were also identified in a series of studies. However, the interactive impact of mother's and father's parenting style was less reported, which was implied in previous studies. In this study, we aim to analyze the associations between parental parenting style disparities and mental health among medical college students.

Method

A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical college students in Shandong province, China, and 2,598 medical college students with parents were analyzed in this study. Items in a short form of Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (EMBU) were used to calculate the parental parenting style disparities. Mental health was evaluated by the Kessler 10 scale.

Results

The results of linear regressions showed that parental nurture reject disparities (RDs, β = 0.50, p < 0.001), parental emotional warmth disparities (WDs, β = 0.33, p < 0.001), parental overprotective disparities (ODs, β = 0.25, p < 0.001), and total disparities in parenting styles (TDs, β = 0.15, p < 0.001) were associated with mental health among medical college students, respectively. The other associated factors were age, ethnicity, chronic disease, above average family economic status, and good parental relationship.

Conclusion

Our findings supported the positive association between parental parenting style disparities and mental health problems. Further studies can test the mechanism and intervention of the findings about the importance of parental parenting style consistence on mental health.