Primary Regulatory Problems in Infancy and Behavioral Outcomes in Childhood: A Systematic Review Study

About %20 of all babies in their first year of life show signs of severe crying, sleep problems, and nutrition, often referred to as regulatory problems. The purpose of this study was to identify the nature and strength of the relationship between primary adjustment disorder during infancy and behavioral problems in childhood and preschool.

Data Sources:

 According to the specialized keywords in internal databases, i.e. Academic Jihad Scientific Database and Noor Specialized Magazines Website between 1390 and 1401 and Islamic world and foreign databases Google Scholar, PubMed, PsycINFO between 2000 and 2022. The findings and information considered to achieve the research goal were reviewed.

In this regard, through a systematic review study, all selected articles were reviewed by two of the research authors, and duplicate articles were removed. 76 published articles were reviewed by considering the inclusion criteria and quality assessment using the PRISMA pattern. Then, based on the final qualitative evaluation, 17 articles were selected and examined to answer the research questions. Inclusion criteria included the existence of regulatory problems in the first year of life, the specificity of the scale of measurement used, the expression of statistically accurate measurements, prospective and longitudinal studies with at least one follow-up assessment.

Out of 76 articles, 17 articles were related to the input criteria of this study, each of which considered one, two or more variables of regulatory disorder. In this regard, out of 17selected research papers, nine articles were reviewed and the relationship between sleep disorders and behavioral problems, 13 articles on severe crying problems, six articles on nutritional disorders, and five articles on combined regulatory disorders. 13 articles reported a significant relationship between neonatal adjustment problems and behavioral problems in childhood.

Regulatory problems in infancy can increase behavioral problems during childhood. Parents with multiple risk factors show more negative outcomes than other children in outbreaks and hyperactivity, especially if they have multiple regulatory problems in infancy.