Abstract
While the importance of social relations for health has been demonstrated in childhood, adolescence and adulthood, few studies have examined the prospective importance of peer relations for adult health. The aim of this study was to examine whether peer problems in the school setting in adolescence relates to the metabolic syndrome in middle-age. Participants came from the Northern Swedish Cohort, a 27-year cohort study of school leavers (effective n = 881, 82% of the original cohort). A score of peer problems was operationalized through form teachers’ assessment of each student’s isolation and popularity among school peers at age 16 years, and the metabolic syndrome was measured by clinical measures at age 43 according to established criteria. Additional information on health, health behaviors, achievement and social circumstances were collected from teacher interviews, school records, clinical measurements and self-administered questionnaires. Logistic regression was used as the main statistical method. Results showed a dose-response relationship between peer problems in adolescence and metabolic syndrome in middle-age, corresponding to 36% higher odds for the metabolic syndrome at age 43 for each SD higher peer problems score at age 16. The association remained significant after adjustment for health, health behaviors, school adjustment or family circumstances in adolescence, and for psychological distress, health behaviors or social circumstances in adulthood. In analyses stratified by sex, the results were significant only in women after adjustment for covariates. Peer problems were significantly related to all individual components of the metabolic syndrome. These results suggest that unsuccessful adaption to the school peer group can have enduring consequences for metabolic health.
Highlights
Social ties are important determinants of well-being and health in children, adolescents and adults
Most life course research on the long-term health effects of early social circumstances has focused on parental socioeconomic status as indicative of children’s and adolescents’ social position in the overarching societal hierarchy [1], or on adverse circumstances originating in the family setting [2,3]
Our results corroborate the general notion that peer relationships in childhood or adolescence may impact on adult health, and expand current knowledge by suggesting that early peer problems can impact on multiple metabolic systems as late as in middle age, independently of other risk factors
Summary
Social ties are important determinants of well-being and health in children, adolescents and adults. Most life course research on the long-term health effects of early social circumstances has focused on parental socioeconomic status as indicative of children’s and adolescents’ social position in the overarching societal hierarchy [1], or on adverse circumstances originating in the family setting [2,3]. While the family certainly is an important developmental context, children and adolescents are faced with the relational potentials and hazards of the peer group in the school milieu, a topic which has received comparatively little attention as origins of health disparities in adulthood. The school class is a key setting for peer relations to form and develop, and as children grow older and reach adolescence peer relations become increasingly important sources of interaction and support, relative to the social bonds within the family. Isolation from peers can be the result of the interplay between an individual being rejected by peers (‘active isolation’) or the individual isolating her2/himself from the peer group (‘social withdrawal’), e.g. due to poor self-esteem or self-perceived difficulties in social interactions [11]
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