Table 1 Characteristics of the study population by intervention and control group at baseline

Age of the child^b

 0–2

58 (5.3)

15 (4.5)

43 (5.7)

0.643

 3–5

389 (35.7)

120 (36.0)

269 (35.5)

 6–8

334 (30.6)

97 (29.1)

237 (31.3)

 9–11

192 (17.6)

67 (20.1)

125 (16.5)

 12–14

91 (8.4)

28 (8.4)

63 (8.3)

 15–17

26 (2.4)

6 (1.8)

20 (2

 Boys^b

656 (60.2)

205 (61.6)

451 (59.6)

0.538

 Age of the mother in years^a

38.1 (5.2)

38.3 (4.9)

38.0 (5.4)

0.637

 Age of the father in years^a

41.4 (6.2)

41.4 (6.1)

40.9 (6.0)

0.413

Educational level of parents^b

 high

562 (51.6)

175 (52.6)

387 (51.2)

0.808

 middle

424 (38.9)

125 (37.5)

299 (39.6)

 low

103 (9.5)

33 (9.9)

70 (9.3)

MHP diagnosis^b

 head/abdominal pain

223 (20.5)

55 (16.5)

168 (22.2)

0.032

 speech disorder

571 (52.4)

137 (41.1)

434 (57.3)

<0.001

 conduct disorder

262 (24.0)

99 (29.7)

163 (21.5)

0.004

 enuresis

92 (8.4)

57 (17.1)

35 (4.6)

<0.001

Parental assessment

 SDQ Score (0–40)^a

8.4 (5.7)

8.5 (5.8)

8.4 (5.6)

0.970

 SDQ Score "at risk"^b

214 (23.2)

64 (22.4)

150 (23.6)

0.688

 Impact Score (0–10)^a

0.6 (1.3)

0.6 (1.4)

0.5 (1.3)

0.247

Self-assessment of the child

 SDQ score (0–40)^a

11.1 (6.4)

10.9 (6.2)

11.1 (6.5)

0.918

 SDQ score "at risk"^b

42 (25.0)

11 (23.4)

31 (25.6)

0.766

 Impact score (0–10)^a

1.2 (2.0)

1.1 (1.8)

1.2 (2.1)

0.649