Social Emotional Development in the Chinese Children with Cerebral Palsy Aged at 1 to 3 Years and the Associated Risk Factors: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: With cerebral palsy children's psychological behavior problems loom large, it gradually be taken seriously. This research aimed to analyze the social emotional disorders of the Chinese children with cerebral palsy aged at 1~3 years, and further screen out the independent risk factors that affect their social emotional development.Methods: A total of 300 Chinese children with cerebral palsy aged 1~3 years-old(192 males, 108 females) and their parents took part in this cross-sectional survey, in which the Chinese Version of Infant Toddler Social-Emotional Assessment (CITSEA), the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) and the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-88) were for children while the Coping Style Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale ( HADS) were for parents. The independent risk factors related to social emotional disorders were screened out using a multivariate logistic or linear regression analysis.Results: The scores of the externalizing and competency domains for the children with cerebral palsy in different age groups were lower than those for healthy children of the same age and gender (p<0.05). For the boys with cerebral palsy, aged at 12~17 and 18~23 months, the scores of the internalizing and dysregulation domains were significantly lower than the norm (p<0.01). The effect of perinatal factors on the externalizing and competency domains is more significant than that on other domains, while the coping style of the parents significantly affected the positive detection rate of dysregulation domain (p=0.001). Conclusions: This study found that the parental emotional state, the education level, the parenting style and the perinatal factors are closely related to social emotional problems in the Chinese children with cerebral palsy.