Table 2.
Psychopathology before and after the school transition.
| Time 1 – end of primary school |
Time 2 – start of secondary school |
Cohen’s D | Significance of t-test | Pearson correlation | Significance of NcNemar’s test | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | % in clinical range | Mean (SD) | % in clinical range | |||||
| Parent report (N = 26)a | ||||||||
| Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire | ||||||||
| Hyperactivity | 5.62 (2.98) | 46.2% | 5.77 (2.55) | 42.3% | 0.08 | 0.700 | 0.75*** | 1 |
| Emotional problems | 5.23 (2.75) | 65.4% | 5.08 (2.83) | 53.8% | −0.05 | 0.802 | 0.38 | 0.453 |
| Peer problems | 5.19 (2.45) | 65.4% | 5.42 (2.21) | 84.6% | 0.11 | 0.581 | 0.60** | 0.125 |
| Conduct problems | 2.69 (1.93) | 30.8% | 2.35 (1.85) | 23.1% | −0.22 | 0.280 | 0.65*** | 0.625 |
| Pro-social behaviour | 5.62 (1.55) | 50.0% | 6.15 (2.51) | 38.5% | 0.32 | 0.157 | 0.66*** | 0.250 |
| Total problems score | 18.62 (6.26) | 69.2% | 18.62 (6.52) | 57.7% | 0 | 1 | 0.59** | 0.375 |
| Teacher report (N = 20) | ||||||||
| Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire | ||||||||
| Hyperactivity | 4.05 (2.80) | 25% | 3.95 (2.56) | 15% | 0.03 | 0.892 | 0.27 | 0.688 |
| Emotional problems | 3.85 (2.37) | 20.0% | 4.75 (3.08) | 50.0% | 0.36 | 0.131 | 0.59** | 0.070 |
| Peer problems | 4.45 (2.70) | 45.0% | 4.37 (2.39) | 40.0% | −0.03 | 0.887 | 0.46* | 1 |
| Conduct problems | 2.10 (1.86) | 20.0% | 2.30 (2.56) | 35.0% | 0.08 | 0.727 | 0.38 | 0.375 |
| Pro-social behaviour | 4.90 (2.65) | 45.0% | 4.15 (1.98) | 40.0% | 0.25 | 0.284 | 0.16 | 1 |
| Total problems score | 14.45 (6.78) | 50.0% | 15.20 (7.48) | 40.0% | 0.14 | 0.563 | 0.69** | 0.625 |
| Child report (N = 24)b | ||||||||
| Beck Youth Inventory | ||||||||
| Self-concept | 43.08 (12.66) | 12.5% | 45.92 (12.01) | 16.7% | 0.18 | 0.400 | 0.14 | 1 |
| Anxiety | 50.88 (11.60) | 16.7% | 50.96 (16.28) | 33.3% | 0.01 | 0.976 | 0.57** | 0.125 |
| Depression | 50.21 (12.14) | 20.8% | 49.50 (15.84) | 25.0% | −0.06 | 0.786 | 0.62** | 1 |
| Anger | 50.08 (13.59) | 29.2% | 46.54 (14.10) | 25.0% | −0.34 | 0.109 | 0.72*** | 1 |
| Disruptive behaviour | 46.00 (11.04) | 12.5% | 43.88 (10.02) | 8.3% | −0.23 | 0.258 | 0.62** | 1 |
SD: standard deviation.
a
Two parents did not provide data on psychopathology at follow-up.
b
One child provided neither baseline not follow-up psychopathology data and three provided baseline but not follow-up data.
*
p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001.