The relation between cognitive and motor performance was studied in a sample of 378 children aged 5-6. Half of these children had no behavior problems; the others were selected for externalizing (38%) or internalizing problems (12%). Quantitative and qualitative aspects of motor performance were related to several aspects of cognition, after controlling for the influence of attention. No relation between global aspects of cognitive and motor performance was found. Specific positive relations were found between both aspects of motor performance, visual motor integration and working memory, and between quantitative aspects of motor performance and fluency. These findings reveal interesting parallels between normal cognitive and motor development in 5- to 6-year-old children that cannot be ascribed to attention processes.

Objective-This study examined whether neighbourhood level socioeconomic variables have an independent eVect on reported child behaviour problems over and above the eVect of individual level measures of socioeconomic status. 45).Conclusions-Living in a more deprived neighbourhood is associated with higher levels of child problem behaviour, irrespective of individual level socioeconomic status. The additional eVect of the neighbourhood may be attributable to contextual variables such as the level of social cohesion among residents. (J Epidemiol Community Health 2001;55:246-250) As it is known that behaviour problems in children increase the risk for later psychopathology, 1 unravelling the aetiology of early problem behaviour may provide possibilities for prevention of adult mental disorder. Many studies have shown that individual level variables, such as exposure to marital discord or coming from a low income family, are associated with behaviour problems in children. [2][3][4] In addition, behaviour problems occur more frequently in children living in deprived urban areas than in children living in rural communities.5 6 However, whether neighbourhood level socioeconomic variables have an independent eVect on child behaviour problems over and above the eVect of individual level variables has scarcely been studied. Duncan and colleagues have demonstrated that neighbourhood economic conditions and poverty status are powerful correlates of the behaviour of children even after accounting for family structure and maternal education.7 However, most studies on the eVects of neighbourhood on child behaviour have been hampered by the absence of data combining information at the individual, family, and neighbourhood levels in the appropriate statistical model. Thus, most studies on neighbourhood diVerences on child behaviour problems have not taken into account the hierarchical fashion in which such data are organised. Data that are grouped according to neighbourhood are, in statistical terms, part of a multilevel structure, with level one units (individuals) being clustered into level two units (neighbourhoods). Individuals from the same neighbourhood are more similar to each other than individuals from diVerent areas, implying that the variation of reported child behaviour problems is smaller than if it were completely random. A conventional regression technique cannot take into account the variance components of two diVerent levels, thus underestimating the standard errors of regression coeYcients.

Verbal fluency was operationalized as the number of words produced in a restricted category (i.e., semantic category [SCF] and words beginning with a given letter [ILF]) in 60 seconds. Word production in the first 15 seconds of either type of fluency task was defined as a measure of automatic information processing, whereas word production in the remaining 45 seconds (in 15-second periods) was taken as a measure of controlled information processing. Data revealed that over 60 seconds healthy children aged 8.4-9.7 years (n = 91) produced significantly more words and less incorrect responses on the SCF task than on the ILF task. Although word production was a function of both type of task and time, it was highest in the initial time slice of either type of fluency and decreased as time on task increased. Finally, no sex differences were found for any measure of performance on either type of fluency task. In contrast, the level of occupational achievement of the caregiver (LOA) appeared to be a determinant of the child's performance on either type of fluency task, indicating that LOA affects higher-order processes, such as the automation of newly learned verbal skills and effortful processing.

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Parental education and occupation have a large impact on the mental health of young children. Psychosocial and biological factors are possible explanations for this phenomenon.