Comparative study of general health and maternal sensitivity in preschool children with Internalization and Externalization Symptoms and normal

Considering the importance of Internalization and Externalization problems in predicting high-risk behaviors and the important role of maternal sensitivity and general health of mothers in the formation of children's behavioral system, the present study aims to compare general health and maternal sensitivity in preschool children with Internalization and Externalization symptoms and normal ones were conducted.

The current research was a retrospective. The statistical population of the present study is the mothers of preschool children with Internalization and Externalization symptoms in the 10th district of Tehran who were studying in 1402. With the available sampling method, 30 mothers of children with Internalization and Externalization symptoms were compared with 30 mothers of normal children. Both groups were evaluated with the Behavior Checklist (Achenbach and Rescorla, 1991), maternal care quality questionnaire (Ghanbari et al. , 2011) and general health questionnaire (Goldberg et al., 1979). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA) were used to analyze the findings.

The results showed; Maternal sensitivity and general health of mothers of preschool children with Internalization and Externalization symptoms are significantly different from mothers of normal children.

The general health status of mothers with children with Internalization and Externalization Symptoms is more unfavorable than mothers of normal children. In addition, lower maternal sensitivity is considered a threat to children's mental health