Social class in childhood and general health in adulthood

TY - JOUR

T1 - Social class in childhood and general health in adulthood

T2 - Questionnaire study of contribution of psychological attributes

AU - Bosma, H

AU - van de Mheen, HD

AU - Mackenbach, JP

PY - 1999

Y1 - 1999

N2 - Objective To determine the contribution of psychological attributes (personality characteristics and coping styles) to the association between social class in childhood and adult health among men and women.Design Partly retrospective, partly cross sectional study conducted in the framework of the Dutch GLOBE study.Subjects Sample of general population from south east Netherlands consisting of 2174 men and women aged 25-74 years. Baseline self reported data from 1991 provided information on childhood and adult social class, psychological attributes, and general health.Main outcome measure Self rated poor health.Results Independent of adult social class, low childhood social class was related to self rated poor health (odds ratio 1.67 (95% confidence interval 1.02 to 2.75) for subjects whose fathers were unskilled manual workers versus subjects whose fathers were higher grade professionals). Subjects whose fathers were manual workers generally bad more unfavourable personality profiles and more negative coping styles. External locus of control, neuroticism, and the absence of active problem focused coping explained about half of the association between childhood social class and self rated poor health. The findings were independent of adult social class and heightConclusions A higher prevalence of negative personality profiles and adverse coping styles in subjects who grew up in lower social classes explains part of the association between social class in childhood and adult health. This finding underlines the importance of psychological mechanisms in the examination of the negative effects of adverse socioeconomic conditions in childhood.

AB - Objective To determine the contribution of psychological attributes (personality characteristics and coping styles) to the association between social class in childhood and adult health among men and women.Design Partly retrospective, partly cross sectional study conducted in the framework of the Dutch GLOBE study.Subjects Sample of general population from south east Netherlands consisting of 2174 men and women aged 25-74 years. Baseline self reported data from 1991 provided information on childhood and adult social class, psychological attributes, and general health.Main outcome measure Self rated poor health.Results Independent of adult social class, low childhood social class was related to self rated poor health (odds ratio 1.67 (95% confidence interval 1.02 to 2.75) for subjects whose fathers were unskilled manual workers versus subjects whose fathers were higher grade professionals). Subjects whose fathers were manual workers generally bad more unfavourable personality profiles and more negative coping styles. External locus of control, neuroticism, and the absence of active problem focused coping explained about half of the association between childhood social class and self rated poor health. The findings were independent of adult social class and heightConclusions A higher prevalence of negative personality profiles and adverse coping styles in subjects who grew up in lower social classes explains part of the association between social class in childhood and adult health. This finding underlines the importance of psychological mechanisms in the examination of the negative effects of adverse socioeconomic conditions in childhood.

KW - SELF-RATED HEALTH

KW - LIVING-CONDITIONS

KW - HEART-DISEASE

KW - CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE

KW - SOCIOECONOMIC POSITION

KW - MORTALITY

KW - RISK

KW - DETERMINANTS

KW - DEPRESSION

KW - HOSTILITY

U2 - 10.1136/bmj.318.7175.18

DO - 10.1136/bmj.318.7175.18

M3 - Article

VL - 318

JO - BMJ, British Medical Journal

JF - BMJ, British Medical Journal

SN - 0959-8138

M1 - 7175

ER -