PSYCHO-SOCIAL RISK FACTORS AND PSYCHO-MOTOR DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN WITH LOW BIRTH WEIGHT

Abstract

The development of a child is largely determined by the environment in which he grows up where the family has the most important place. Children with low birth weight are the most risky group for deviations in psychomotor development. The research was conducted with the aim of examining the connection between the psychosocial risk factors and the psychomotor development of children with low birth weight based on the influence of parental risks, stress, abusive abilities, parental abilities in performing parental tasks and socio-demographic status of families. The survey included 129 children, both genders born in 2010 at the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University Clinical Center in Tuzla with a birth weight of less than 2,500 grams divided into two groups: a control group of 91 children (70.5%) with neat psychomotor development and a survey group consisting of 38 children (29.5%) with deviations in psychomotor development. Data on psychosocial risk factors have been collected through UNICEF's questionnaires for assessing child's needs, parental abilities, family factors and environmental factors. The results indicate that parents of children with developmental disorders are statistically significantly more exposed to stress, the higher the influence of children with deviations on finances, marriage, social life, expressions of positive and negative feelings, as well as the total number of risks, while there are no differences on the scale of parental forces, affecting brothers and sisters, and the risk of abuse. It is possible to conclude that children with developmental disabilities have a significant impact on family life.