Eight years after - a follow-up study of mothers and children at psychosocial risk who received early treatment: does early intervention leave its mark?

One-hundred forty-five mothers at psychosocial risk who, with their babies, had been given treatment at a parent-baby clinic during a 2-year period starting in 1999, treatment designed to strengthen the mother-child relationship, were followed up 8 years later. Both the mothers who had agreed to take part in the treatment programme (n = 73) and those who had declined (n = 72) were searched for in the records of the Social Welfare office to determine if the treated mothers had been focused on to a lesser degree in the following 8 years than those who had declined treatment, a hypothesis that was initially put forward. The behaviour of the children whose mothers had undergone treatment (n = 46) was studied. The initial hypothesis had to be rejected; support and intervention from the social authorities had been equally common in both groups. However, the children of treated mothers had fewer externalizing behaviour than children of untreated mothers at psychosocial risk.