PART 2: CHILDREN'S RELATIONSHIPS
Relationship with Parents
Relationship with Mothers
The relationships between parents and children are of great importance to the life of the child. Poor parent–child relationships are associated with delinquent behaviour 11 , depression 12 and psychosomatic symptoms .13
Measure
The percentage of children aged 9-17 who report that they find it easy
to talk to their mother when something is really bothering them.
|
Key findings
- In 2006, 78% of children aged 9-17 reported that they find it easy to talk to their mother when something is really bothering them (see Table 24).
Differences by gender, age and social class
- The percentage of children who reported that they found it easy to talk to their mother when something was really bothering them was found to be relatively stable across gender and social class (see Table 24).
- The percentage of children who reported that they found it easy to talk to their mother when something was really bothering them was higher among younger children – 87.5% of 9-year-olds and 88.4% of 10-11 year-olds, compared to 70.8% of 15-17 year-olds.
Table 24: Percentage of children who report that they find it easy to talk to their mother when something is really bothering them, by gender, age and social class ( 2002 and 2006)
| 2002 | 2006 | |||||
| Boys | Girls | Total | Boys | Girls | Total | |
| Total | 75.5 | 79.1 | 77.6 | 77.5 | 78.4 | 78.0 |
| Age | ||||||
| 9 years | - | - | - | 87.5 | 87.5 | 87.5 |
| 10-11 years | 85.4 | 87.8 | 86.7 | 88.0 | 88.7 | 88.4 |
| 12-14 years | 76.6 | 81.9 | 79.6 | 79.8 | 82.2 | 81.0 |
| 15-17 years | 68.9 | 72.5 | 71.1 | 72.1 | 69.4 | 70.8 |
| Social class | ||||||
| SC 1-2 | 74.0 | 77.7 | 76.2 | 78.6 | 77.7 | 78.2 |
| SC 3-4 | 76.4 | 80.0 | 78.5 | 78.3 | 79.3 | 78.8 |
| SC 5-6 | 79.5 | 80.6 | 80.1 | 78.6 | 79.4 | 79.0 |
Source: HBSC Survey
Differences by geographic area
- Children in the South-East region are more likely (79.2%) to report that they find it easy to talk to their mother when something is really bothering them, while children in the Mid-West region are least likely (75.3%) to do so (see Table 25).
Table 25: Percentage of children who report that they find it easy to talk to their mother when something is really bothering them, by NUTS Region (2006)
| 2006 | |
| Border | 78.1 |
| Midlands | 77.9 |
| West | 76.6 |
| Dublin | 78.7 |
| Mid-East | 77.7 |
| Mid-West | 75.3 |
| South-East | 79.2 |
| South-West | 78.6 |
| Overall | 78.0 |
Source: HBSC Survey
International comparisons
- From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using the ages of 11, 13 and 15 only to draw international comparisons, 79.5% of Irish children reported that they found it easy to talk to their mother when something was really bothering them (see Figure 7). This is lower than the HBSC average of 81.5%.
- Among all 40 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among Belgian (French) children (68.0%) and the highest among Slovenian children (90.1%). Overall, Irish children ranked in 26th place.
- Among the 35 countries and regions that used this HBSC item in 2002, Irish children ranked 27th (79.4%).
Figure 7: Percentage of children who report that they find it easy to talk to their mother when something is really bothering them, by country (2006)
Source: HBSC Survey
11 Bogard, L. (2005) 'Affluent Adolescents, Depression and Drug Use: The role of adults in their lives', Adolescence, Vol. 40, No. 158, pp. 281-306.
12 Young, J.F., Berenson, K., Cohen, P. and Garcia, J. (2005) 'The Role of Parent and Peer Support in predicting Adolescent Depression: A Longitudinal Community Study', Journal of Research on Adolescence, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 407-23.
13 Murberg, T.A. and Bru, E. (2004) 'School-related Stress and Psychosomatic Symptoms among Norwegian Adolescents', School Psychology International, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 317-22.