Parents of unruly children may not like the sound of new research results on why children misbehave.

The study findings add to growing evidence that the home environment in early childhood has a major impact on whether children ``act out'' when they start school.

In a study of boys who were followed from infancy to age 6, the type of care they received at home affected the likelihood that they would have discipline problems in school, according to a report in the January issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The conclusions were based on 310 low-income boys living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A little more than half of the children were white, 36% were African American, and the rest were Hispanic or from another ethnic background.

The researchers took into account parents' and teachers' reports of children's behavior. In addition, the investigators observed parent-child interactions.

In an interview with Reuters Health, the study's lead author, Dr. Daniel S. Shaw, of the University of Pittsburgh, said that some children are born with a negative outlook that makes them more likely to misbehave. But he stressed that parents of these children are not doomed to having unruly tots.

The best way to prevent a child from acting out, according to Shaw, is ``to have your own mental health in shape.''

When a child misbehaves, it is important to stay as calm as possible, Shaw explained. ``If you can't, that's a problem,'' he noted.

``You may not be taking care of yourself as a parent,'' Shaw said.

He and his colleagues found that behavior problems were common in children whose mothers were depressed, had poor social support systems or who had a negative style of child rearing.

Shaw encouraged parents who feel stressed out to seek out counseling if possible. Unfortunately, adequate mental healthcare is not available for many poor people, he pointed out. And when it is available, it is not always convenient for parents, he said.

But all of the blame for unruly children should not fall on parents, according to Shaw. Living in a dangerous neighborhood affects the likelihood that a child would display disruptive behavior, the report indicates.

In another study appearing in the same journal, researchers report that many children with behavior problems display a mix of externalizing behaviors, such as bullying and misbehaving in class, and internalizing behaviors including anxiety and depression.

Unfortunately for doctors and other health professionals who treat children with behavior problems, symptoms were similar among children with different disorders, like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and traumatic stress disorder, report researchers led by Dr. Jean M. Thomas of Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC. This makes diagnosing child behavior disorders difficult, the authors note.

And in a finding similar to the results of the Pittsburgh study, this study also suggests ``that the quality of the parent-child relationship is, indeed, an important risk factor associated with the presentation of internalizing and externalizing symptoms,'' Thomas and colleagues write.

(From ChinaDaily)