Economic stress and condescending treatment in childhood and adult self-rated health: results from a population study in Sweden

Fredrik Granström,Anu Molarius,Hans-Georg Eriksson

doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4438-x

Abstract

BackgroundEven today, 12% of the children in Sweden live in poverty and many children are exposed to adverse experiences, such as being bullied, which may have long-term consequences on public health. This study examined the associations between economic stress and condescending treatment in childhood and self-rated health (SRH) in adulthood.MethodsThe study is based on 26,706 persons who responded to a postal survey questionnaire sent to a random sample of men and women aged 25–84 years in 2012 (response rate 53%). The associations between childhood circumstances and adult SRH were analysed by logistic regression, adjusting for sex, age, economic stress in adulthood, condescending treatment in adulthood, socioeconomic status and several other known material, behavioural and psychosocial risk factors.ResultsIn total, 39% of both men and women reported economic stress in their family during childhood. 36% of the men and 41% of the women indicated that they had been treated in a condescending manner, e.g. in school or at home, during childhood. Both economic stress in childhood and condescending treatment in childhood were strongly associated with adult SRH. The associations attenuated, but were still statistically significant after adjustment for adulthood circumstances and other risk factors.ConclusionEconomic stress in childhood and condescending treatment in childhood were associated with SRH in adulthood, both independently and through adulthood circumstances. The results underline the importance of taking into account both material and psychosocial circumstances over the whole life course when developing public health measures.

Highlights

Even today, 12% of the children in Sweden live in poverty and many children are exposed to adverse experiences, such as being bullied, which may have long-term consequences on public health
The results of this study indicate that both economic stress in childhood and condescending treatment in childhood are associated with self-rated health (SRH) in adulthood
Previous studies have shown that current economic difficulties [12, 32, 33] and recent condescending treatment [17] are strongly associated with poor SRH among adults

Summary

Introduction

12% of the children in Sweden live in poverty and many children are exposed to adverse experiences, such as being bullied, which may have long-term consequences on public health. This study examined the associations between economic stress and condescending treatment in childhood and self-rated health (SRH) in adulthood. Over the last few decades, the life course perspective, including the association between childhood circumstances and adult health, has been increasingly acknowledged as an important field of study [1, 2]. Childhood social environment is associated with health behaviour, such as smoking and heavy alcohol use, in adulthood [6, 7]. Material conditions in the family during childhood have been shown to influence adult health status in several ways. Parental socioeconomic status has been shown to be independently related to health behaviour in adulthood [10]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion