TY - JOUR
T1 - Age relative to school class peers and emotional well-being in 10-year-olds
AU - Ando, Shuntaro
AU - Usami, Satoshi
AU - Matsubayashi, Tetsuya
AU - Ueda, Michiko
AU - Koike, Shinsuke
AU - Yamasaki, Syudo
AU - Fujikawa, Shinya
AU - Sasaki, Tsukasa
AU - Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, Mariko
AU - Patton, George
AU - Kasai, Kiyoto
AU - Nishida, Atsushi
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (23118002 and 20616784 & 16H01689; Adolescent Mind & Self-Regulation) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. This study was also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP16H06395, 16H06398, 16H06399, 16K21720, and 17H05931. Further, this work was supported in part by UTokyo Center for Integrative Science of Human Behavior. This work was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (23118002 and 20616784 &16H01689; Adolescent Mind & Self-Regulation) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. This study was also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP16H06395, 16H06398, 16H06399, 16K21720, and 17H05931. Further, this work was supported in part by UTokyo Center for Integrative Science of Human Behavior.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Ando et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2019/3
Y1 - 2019/3
N2 - Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of age relative to school (i.e., class or grade level) peers on emotional well-being and the role of possible mediators of this effect in early adolescence using a large set of individual-level data from a community survey. Methods A large community-based survey of 10-year-old children and their primary parents was conducted in Tokyo, where the school entry cutoff date is fixed. Emotional well-being was assessed by the WHO (Five) Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Academic performance and the experience of being bullied at school were also evaluated as potential mediators of the effect of relative age. Results A total of 4,478 children participated in the study. In a univariate linear regression analysis, the relative birthdate (continuous variable starting from the school entry date and ending at the last date of the academic grade) was negatively associated with emotional well-being (β = -0.043, p = .005). The path analyses suggested that academic performance and bullying mediated the relationship between the relative birthdate and emotional well-being (both p < .01). Conclusions Among a sample of 10-year-olds, children who were younger compared to class peers had lower levels of emotional well-being. Academic performance and victimization by peers mediated the relationship.
AB - Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of age relative to school (i.e., class or grade level) peers on emotional well-being and the role of possible mediators of this effect in early adolescence using a large set of individual-level data from a community survey. Methods A large community-based survey of 10-year-old children and their primary parents was conducted in Tokyo, where the school entry cutoff date is fixed. Emotional well-being was assessed by the WHO (Five) Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Academic performance and the experience of being bullied at school were also evaluated as potential mediators of the effect of relative age. Results A total of 4,478 children participated in the study. In a univariate linear regression analysis, the relative birthdate (continuous variable starting from the school entry date and ending at the last date of the academic grade) was negatively associated with emotional well-being (β = -0.043, p = .005). The path analyses suggested that academic performance and bullying mediated the relationship between the relative birthdate and emotional well-being (both p < .01). Conclusions Among a sample of 10-year-olds, children who were younger compared to class peers had lower levels of emotional well-being. Academic performance and victimization by peers mediated the relationship.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0214359
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0214359
M3 - Article
C2 - 30913231
AN - SCOPUS:85063598313
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 14
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 3
M1 - e0214359
ER -