Table 2.

Interview protocol detailing the questions and prompts for each of the five topics covered in the interviews

Topic	Questions
1. About you (rapport building)	Could you tell me a bit about yourself and your family? Prompts: Who do you live with? Has this changed since you were little? What kind of things to do like doing at the weekend? What subjects do you like at school? What are your hobbies/things you like doing? Complete ‘about you’ scale
2. Stressful life events and daily hassles	For stressful life events: You mentioned that (type of event) happened. Could you describe what happened? How did you/your family feel about (the event)? Prompts: Length of the event? Coping: Could you describe how you coped with (the event)? For example, what did you do to make yourself feel better? How do you think (your child) coped with (the event)? Comparisons: Could you compare what you felt like before (the event) and how you feel now? For example, compare how you felt about school/relationships with friends/family before and after. Could you compare your feelings/behaviour before and after (the event)? Effect on present life: Could you compare how you/your child deals with new challenges or problems before and after (the event)? Could you describe how you/your child reacts if they are reminded of (the event)? Prompts: Interference with day‐to‐day life? For daily hassles: You said that (type of hassle) made you feel (quite bad/very bad). Could you tell me a bit more about it/how it made you feel? Prompts: Are there other times when you’ve felt similar to that? Are there any other stressful events that have happened to you that we’ve not talked about? Prompts: How old were you/your child when this happened?
3. Coping	When you told me about how you coped with that problem on the coping questionnaire you said that you found (top three strategies) most helpful. Go through each strategy in turn: Could you tell me about any other times you’ve used this strategy? Can you tell me how you normally cope with problems? What do you normally do if something bad happens to you? Prompts: Can you tell me a bit more about that? Do you use any of the things on the list? Can you describe a time when you’ve used this strategy? Can you describe how you feel once you’ve used them?
4. Health and illness	Can you tell me a bit about what it’s like to be ill? On the health questionnaire you said that you/your child (go through each question, e.g., had some health problems). Could you tell me a bit more about that? For each specific illness: Complete health and illness scale
5. Early life events (questions for the parent) Note: the child was asked the closing questions and left the interview prior to these parental questions)	Were there any stressful events that happened during your pregnancy? Were there any stressful life events that happened to you or (your child) during the first year of their life? Prompts: How did these events make you feel?
Closing questions	Is there anything I’ve missed or not asked you about that you think is very important? Do you have any final questions or comments?