Preventing Internalizing Problems in Young Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Feelings and Friends (Year 3) Program with a Motor Skills Component

Abstract

Anxiety and depression are common mental health problems experienced by children in Australia. The impact of these internalizing disorders is pervasive, affecting many areas of life. By the time problems have been detected in children they can be severe in nature and harder to treat. Hence, early intervention is of utmost importance. Despite the existence of numerous prevention programs for children, there is limited empirical evidence for a program that has an impact on symptoms of both anxiety and depression. Physical activity and improved motor coordination have been indicated as having positive effects on children's mental health, although the impact of including these in a program targeting internalizing disorders has not been established. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Feelings and Friends (Year 3) program (FFY3), revised to include activities to build motor-coordination and encourage physical activity. Participants were 24 children from the Perth metropolitan area alongside one of each of their parents. Results indicated significant short-term intervention effects on one of the primary outcome variables; intervention group parents reported significant pre-post improvement in child depressive symptoms, which were maintained at 3-month follow-up (ηp2 = 0.10). There were also intervention effects observed for parent-reported separation anxiety (ηp2 = 0.10), externalizing symptoms (ηp2 = 0.19), and conduct problems (ηp2 = 0.16). An additional finding indicated the intervention students reported significant improvement from session one to session two in global distress (ηp2 = 0.22). No other significant intervention effects were evident. Findings from this study indicate that FFY3 is a promising intervention to address internalizing and externalizing symptoms in 8–9 year-old children.

Spanish Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Parent Version of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-P) in a Non-Clinical Sample of Young School-Aged Children

“…The aim of the present study was to validate the SMFQ-P for Spanish-speaking children aged 6-8 years. The internal consistency of the scale was adequate (α = .83) and similar to those reported by previous studies conducted in child and adolescent samples of other countries such as the United States (α = .84-.87; Angold et al, 1995;Rhew et al, 2010), Norway (α = .83; Karevold et al, 2017), Brazil (α = .87; Sucupira et al, 2017), and Australia (α = .89; Tennant et al, 2017). Additionally, test-retest results (ICC = .80) supported the scale as a consistent measure over time and are in line with previous findings (ICC = .79; Sucupira et al, 2017).…”

“…Moreover, the mean total score for depression obtained in our sample was 4.59 (SD = 4.27), which is within the range found in other SMFQ-P studies with non-diagnosed children (e.g., overall mean scores range 3.1 -8.17; Rhew et al, 2010;Tennant et al, 2017). Also, no differences in gender and age were found.…”

“…On another hand, although the SMFQ-P has shown to be a useful scale to assess childhood depression, even for evaluation of treatment response in early schoolaged children (Creswell et al, 2020;Tennant et al, 2017), few data are available about its psychometric properties in young children (i.e., 6-8 years), as studies have generally focused on older ages (e.g., Karevold et al, 2017;Sucupira et al, 2017). Therefore, it would be valuable to provide further data regarding the factor structure, reliability (i.e., including test-retest reliability) and validity of the SMFQ-P with young school-aged children.…”

The Impact of the Aussie Optimism Program on the Emotional Coping of 5- to 6-Year-Old Children

“…Each program incorporates developmentally appropriate strategies to target internalizing and externalizing disorders in children. The programs are based on cognitive-behavioral principles and include emotion regulation strategies as a way of targeting poor mental health ( Tennant et al, 2017 ). Coping strategies used across the programs include relaxation, facing fears, distraction and self-soothing ( Pophillat et al, 2016 ).…”

Supportive Parenting Buffers the Effects of Low Peer Acceptance on Children’s Internalizing Problem Behaviors

“…In turn, lack of peer acceptance in childhood has been shown to be a risk factor for developing various forms of internalizing problem behaviors, such as anxiety and depression (e.g., Healy and Sanders 2018;Hoglund and Chisholm 2014;Menting et al 2015;Sakyi et al 2015). Internalizing problem behaviors may have long-term consequences leading to interpersonal difficulties, social competence deficits, and academic problems (Barrett et al 2005; see also Tennant et al 2017). The impacts of low peer acceptance are not, however, necessarily the same for all: the consequences of low peer acceptance have been suggested to be weaker or non-existent for children who have supportive parents (Cohen and Wills 1985;Deci and Ryan 2000).…”