Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966
Aims: Rates of parental separation have increased dramatically in recent decades. We evaluated the association of individuals’ childhood family structure with their somatic health over 46 years of follow-up. Methods: Data were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort, an ongoing project in which...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/14034948211014296 2024-09-09T19:59:16+00:00 Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Varis, Heidi Hagnäs, Maria Mikkola, Ilona Nordström, Tanja Puukka, Katri Taanila, Anja Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka the Finnish General Practice foundation juho vainion säätiö 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14034948211014296 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/14034948211014296 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/14034948211014296 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Scandinavian Journal of Public Health volume 50, issue 5, page 601-612 ISSN 1403-4948 1651-1905 journal-article 2021 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/14034948211014296 2024-08-12T04:32:13Z Aims: Rates of parental separation have increased dramatically in recent decades. We evaluated the association of individuals’ childhood family structure with their somatic health over 46 years of follow-up. Methods: Data were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort, an ongoing project in which 12,058 participants born in 1966 have been followed from their 24th gestational week. Based on information supplied at age 14 years, family structure was categorised as ‘single-parent family’ and ‘two-parent family’. The anthropometric information, data from blood samples and medical history were collected from postal questionnaires and clinical examinations routinely performed at the ages of 31 and 46 years. Results: The study population comprised a total of 10,895 individuals; 85% ( n=9253) were offspring of two-parent families and 15% ( n=1642) of single-parent families. Type 2 diabetes ( P=0.032) or prediabetes ( P=0.007), psychoactive drug problems ( P<0.001) and sexually transmitted diseases ( P<0.001) were more common in the single-parent family group than in the participants from two-parent families. In addition, among men back diseases ( P=0.002), and among women hypertension ( P=0.003) and ovary infection ( P=0.024) were more frequent in individuals affected by parental death than in those from two-parent families. Conclusions: Our results indicate the association of childhood family structure with offspring morbidity during 46 years’ follow-up. The lifetime morbidity was observed to be higher among offspring from a single-parent family compared to two-parent family offspring. Public and scientific concern about the consequences of parental separation on the offspring’ health exist, therefore support from healthcare professionals and society is warranted. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Finland SAGE Publications Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 140349482110142 |
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SAGE Publications |
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crsagepubl |
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English |
description |
Aims: Rates of parental separation have increased dramatically in recent decades. We evaluated the association of individuals’ childhood family structure with their somatic health over 46 years of follow-up. Methods: Data were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort, an ongoing project in which 12,058 participants born in 1966 have been followed from their 24th gestational week. Based on information supplied at age 14 years, family structure was categorised as ‘single-parent family’ and ‘two-parent family’. The anthropometric information, data from blood samples and medical history were collected from postal questionnaires and clinical examinations routinely performed at the ages of 31 and 46 years. Results: The study population comprised a total of 10,895 individuals; 85% ( n=9253) were offspring of two-parent families and 15% ( n=1642) of single-parent families. Type 2 diabetes ( P=0.032) or prediabetes ( P=0.007), psychoactive drug problems ( P<0.001) and sexually transmitted diseases ( P<0.001) were more common in the single-parent family group than in the participants from two-parent families. In addition, among men back diseases ( P=0.002), and among women hypertension ( P=0.003) and ovary infection ( P=0.024) were more frequent in individuals affected by parental death than in those from two-parent families. Conclusions: Our results indicate the association of childhood family structure with offspring morbidity during 46 years’ follow-up. The lifetime morbidity was observed to be higher among offspring from a single-parent family compared to two-parent family offspring. Public and scientific concern about the consequences of parental separation on the offspring’ health exist, therefore support from healthcare professionals and society is warranted. |
author2 |
the Finnish General Practice foundation juho vainion säätiö |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Varis, Heidi Hagnäs, Maria Mikkola, Ilona Nordström, Tanja Puukka, Katri Taanila, Anja Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka |
spellingShingle |
Varis, Heidi Hagnäs, Maria Mikkola, Ilona Nordström, Tanja Puukka, Katri Taanila, Anja Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 |
author_facet |
Varis, Heidi Hagnäs, Maria Mikkola, Ilona Nordström, Tanja Puukka, Katri Taanila, Anja Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka |
author_sort |
Varis, Heidi |
title |
Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 |
title_short |
Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 |
title_full |
Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 |
title_fullStr |
Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 |
title_sort |
parental separation and offspring morbidity in adulthood: a descriptive study of the northern finland birth cohort 1966 |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14034948211014296 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/14034948211014296 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/14034948211014296 |
genre |
Northern Finland |
genre_facet |
Northern Finland |
op_source |
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health volume 50, issue 5, page 601-612 ISSN 1403-4948 1651-1905 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14034948211014296 |
container_title |
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health |
container_start_page |
140349482110142 |
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1809930405404475392 |