Lacey, RE;
Kumari, M;
McMunn, A;
(2013)
Parental separation in childhood and adult inflammation: the importance of material and psychosocial pathways.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
, 38
(11)
pp. 2476-2484.
10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.05.007.
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Abstract
Background: Childhood adversities are known to be associated with poorer health outcomes. A potential mechanism may be through changes in inflammatory processes. One such childhood adversity is separation of parents, however relatively little is known about the association between parental separation and inflammation in adulthood. The aims of this study were to (1) investigate whether parental separation is associated with inflammation in mid-life, (2) focus upon the mechanisms that may be involved in translating childhood adversities, such as parental separation, into poorer health outcomes in adulthood. Methods: We examine the association of parental separation in childhood, defined as the breakdown of the parent’s partnership, and levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in middle age. The role played by material (through material disadvantage and educational attainment), psychosocial (through parent-child relationship quality and psychological distress) and adiposity (through BMI) mechanisms is investigated using path analysis in a multiply-imputed dataset from a British birth cohort with concurrent measurements made throughout the life course (n=7,462). Results: Participants that report parental separation have higher CRP levels at age 44 than those who grew up with both parents (β=0.16, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.27). This association is largely explained by BMI, material and psychosocial factors. Material disadvantage after separation and educational attainment seem to be particularly important in this association. Conclusions: Parental separation increases CRP in adulthood via chains of disadvantage across the life course. This study points towards potential points for intervention and highlights a need to support separating families in order to minimise the long-term impact on adult health.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Parental separation in childhood and adult inflammation: the importance of material and psychosocial pathways |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.05.007 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.05.007 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Keywords: | Cohort study, divorce, inflammation, material disadvantage, NCDS, path analysis, relationships |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1396361 |
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