Behaviour problems worse in poor children

More than a third (35 per cent) of the poorest three-year-old boys displayed behaviour problems, compared with one in six (15 per cent) of those living in richer households.

The research, by Elizabeth Washbrook of Bristol University, analysed the responses of thousands of parents to a questionnaire to compare the behaviour of children aged three to seven.

The proportion of three-year-old boys from the poorest fifth of homes showing clinical level symptoms of behaviour problems was double that of three-year-olds from the higher four fifths of homes, in terms of income.

By the age of seven, a fifth (22 per cent) of the poorest boys still suffered from behaviour problems, compared to one in 10 (10 per cent) of those from richer homes.

Amongst girls the rates, were lower, but nearly three in 10 (29 per cent) of the poorest girls exhibited symptoms of behaviour problems, which dropped to a fifth (20 per cent) at the age of seven.

The research suggests that the gap in behaviour has widened over the last 10 years.

Girls from low income families who were born in the early 1990s were twice as likely to display behavioural problems than their peers at the age of seven.

Those born around the millennium were three and a half times as likely to show such symptoms at the age of seven.