Association between childhood experiences and mental health in later‐life: Findings from the National Social life, Health, and Aging Project

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundMiddle age is the central period of life, and it is a time when people face various mental health problems. It has been reported that the experience of childhood has a lifelong effect on mental health in middle age. However, research on positive childhood effects is insufficient, compared to negative childhood.ObjectivesTo investigate associations between childhood experiences and a latent construct of mental health in midlife adults.MethodsThe participants included 770 adults aged 50‐64 who retrospectively reported childhood events, including family life happiness, parent’s education, family’s financial status, childhood health status, family structure, experience of violence, and witness of violence. Second‐order structural equation modelling was used with mental health modelled as a second‐order latent variable with depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress as first‐order components.ResultsThe study found that family life happiness and healthy childhood were associated with better mental health of midlife, in both the crude (β = −.221, p < 0.001; β = −.201, p < 0.01) and adjusted models (β = −0.128, p < 0.001; β = −0.095, p < 0.05).ConclusionThis is the first study confirming the associations of family life happiness and childhood health with mental health of midlife using second‐order structural equation modeling. Future work would benefit from a prospective investigation of these associations. Keywords:Mental health, Midlife, Childhood, Second‐order structural equation model