Skip to main content

Table 1 Prevalence of chronic adversities and negative life events in pre- and primary-school children participating in the IDEFICS study (2009–2010): survey centre and regional variations

From: Prevalence of negative life events and chronic adversities in European pre- and primary-school children: results from the IDEFICS study

  

Survey centres

Country groups

 

Total

Italy

Estonia

Cyprus

Belgium

Sweden

Germany

Hungary

Spain

P (χ2)a

Northc

Easthd

Southe

Westf

P (χ2)a

Number of children included (N)

4637

560

787

601

605

543

376

666

499

 

1330

666

1660

981

 

Familial and social adversities

Prevalence % (N)

Prevalence %

Being immigrant

â‘¢ 13.0 (604)

19.6

6.5

33.1

2.8

15.8

23.1

2.9

7.0

<0.001

10.3

2.9

20.7

10.6

<0.001

Low maternal education

11.3 (524)

28.9

3.4

3.0

2.5

4.4

51.9

2.9

12.8

<0.001

3.8

2.9

14.7

21.4

<0.001

Family economic hardship

4.1 (191)

7.1

2.7

2.2

1.2

0.9

9.3

5.7

6.4

<0.001

2.0

5.7

5.1

4.3

<0.001

Non-traditional family structure

â‘  21.0 (973)

30.2

24.1

28.8

15.4

13.3

22.6

24.2

6.0

<0.001

19.7

24.2

22.4

18.1

0.007

Single-parent family

13.1 (608)

25.5

12.8

23.6

5.0

4.1

14.6

13.2

5.4

<0.001

9.2

13.2

18.8

8.7

<0.001

Stepparent family

4.1 (192)

0.4

8.0

1.2

5.3

3.5

7.4

6.0

0.2

<0.001

6.2

6.0

0.6

6.1

<0.001

Only-children

â‘¡ 16.4 (759)

14.1

27.2

8.7

8.3

9.2

24.2

20.7

17.0

<0.001

19.8

20.7

13.0

14.4

<0.001

Latchkey care

5.6 (261)

1.3

22.5

3.3

0.3

7.6

0.8

1.2

0.6

<0.001

16.4

1.2

1.8

0.5

<0.001

Bad family climate

1.3 (58)

1.3

2.3

1.3

0.5

0.0

2.4

0.3

2.2

<0.001

1.4

0.3

1.6

1.2

0.097

Teenage pregnancy

2.2 (101)

2.3

6.1

3.0

0.5

0.7

2.4

0.6

0.4

<0.001

3.9

0.6

2.0

1.2

<0.001

Peer problems

8.5 (395)

9.3

7.6

11.5

7.8

4.6

9.8

11.0

6.4

<0.001

6.4

11.0

9.2

8.6

0.003

Negative life events

Prevalence % (N)

Prevalence %

Parental divorce/separation

â‘  13.0 (602)

3.9

23.0

7.3

14.7

10.7

18.6

17.4

4.4

<0.001

18.0

17.4

5.3

16.2

<0.001

Addition of a new family member

â‘¡ 12.4 (573)

3.4

14.0

4.5

13.2

29.8

13.0

9.5

12.6

<0.001

20.5

9.5

6.6

13.1

<0.001

Parental job loss

â‘¢ 8.7 (403)

3.2

14.5

4.3

4.0

8.8

6.6

13.1

12.2

<0.001

12.2

13.1

6.3

5.0

<0.001

Severe diseases/accidents of the child

7.2 (333)

5.4

11.3

4.3

4.5

3.9

6.9

13.4

5.0

<0.001

8.3

13.4

4.9

5.4

<0.001

Serious illness of a family member

1.9 (90)

2.3

1.0

0.8

4.5

3.1

2.7

1.1

0.6

<0.001

1.9

1.1

1.3

3.8

<0.001

Major frustration at school

7.4 (344)

5.9

7.5

4.7

8.3

7.0

11.4

10.2

5.0

<0.001

7.3

10.2

5.2

9.5

<0.001

Death of a parent

0.7 (33)

0.7

0.5

1.0

0.7

0.4

0.8

1.4

0.2

0.339b

0.5

1.4

0.7

0.7

0.177b

Death of a sibling

0.6 (26)

0.2

0.6

0.3

1.2

0.4

1.1

0.6

0.2

0.253b

0.5

0.6

0.2

1.1

0.034b

Death of a grandparent

4.8 (221)

6.4

3.6

2.0

5.1

5.2

7.4

3.8

6.6

<0.001

4.2

3.8

4.9

6.0

0.121

Death of a pet

0.7 (32)

0.0

1.8

0.0

1.0

0.0

2.4

0.2

0.4

<0.001

1.1

0.2

0.1

1.5

<0.001b

  1. a Pearson χ2 test to compare frequencies across countries, b Fischer's exact test to compare frequencies between countries, c Sweden-Estonia, d Hungary, e Italy-Cyprus-Spain, f Belgium-Germany.
  2. â‘ â‘¡â‘¢ Top three of most prevalent FSAs/NLEs in total are marked.
  3. For each adversity or event, the survey centre or country group with the highest prevalence is indicated in bold if statistically different from the other survey centres or country groups.
Back to article page

Archives of Public Health

ISSN: 2049-3258