Could teacher-perceived parental interest be an important factor in understanding how education relates to later physiological health? A life course approach.

Camille Joannès,Raphaële Castagné,Benoit Lepage,Cyrille Delpierre,Michelle Kelly-Irving

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252518

Camille Joannès, Raphaële Castagné + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252518

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Abstract

Education is associated with later health, and notably with an indicator of physiological health measuring the cost of adapting to stressful conditions, named allostatic load. Education is itself the result of a number of upstream variables. We examined the origins of educational attainment through the lens of interactions between families and school i.e. parents' interest in their child's education as perceived by teachers. This study aims to examine whether parental interest during a child's educational trajectory is associated with subsequent allostatic load, and whether education or other pathways mediate this relationship. We used data from 9 377 women and men born in 1958 in Great Britain and included in the National Child Development Study to conduct secondary data analyses. Parental interest was measured from questionnaire responses by teachers collected at age 7, 11 and 16. Allostatic load was defined using 14 biomarkers assayed in blood from a biosample collected at 44 years of age. Linear regression analyses were carried out on a sample of 8 113 participants with complete data for allostatic load, missing data were imputed. Participants whose parents were considered to be uninterested in their education by their teacher had a higher allostatic load on average in midlife in both men (β = 0,41 [0,29; 0,54]) and women (β = 0,69 [0,54; 0,83]). We examined the role of the educational and other pathways including psychosocial, material/financial, and behavioral variables, as potential mediators in the relationship between parental interest and allostatic load. The direct link between parental interest and allostatic load was completely mediated in men, but only partially mediated in women. This work provides evidence that parents' interest in their child's education as perceived by teachers is associated with subsequent physiological health in mid-life and may highlight a form of cultural dissonance between family and educational spheres.

Highlights

One of the most consistent findings in the field of social epidemiology is that educational attainment is associated with health
To qualify pathways mediating the relationship between parental interest and allostatic load In these models, we considered that the last set of mediators had an important mediating role if the change of the regression coefficient characterizing the association between parental interest and allostatic load was large and if these mediators were associated to allostatic load
Our findings provide insight into understanding how educational attainment as a reflection of dynamic life course social processes relates to physiological health, and underline that parental-interest in children’s education has not been given much attention in relation to health over the life course

Summary

Introduction

One of the most consistent findings in the field of social epidemiology is that educational attainment is associated with health. Gallo et al showed that health behaviors and lifestyle factors explained only a part of the educational inequalities in total mortality of members of European cohorts [3] Beyond these groups of mechanisms others have been examined, such as environmental exposures and material conditions [4, 5], calling for further studies to examine the mechanisms through which education relates to health. Embodiment can occur through several mechanisms including the internal physiological response to social exposures, among which feature intra-familial relationships and social interactions. Such interactions are perceived through the senses, interpreted by the central nervous system leading to peripheral physiological responses [7]. A few studies have examined the association between education and allostatic load [12, 13] indicating that a higher level of education is associated with a lower allostatic load, only partly explained by different potential mediators (including health, behavioral and psychosocial factors) suggesting that an important part of this association remains to be explained

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