Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London, London, UK.
BMJ Open. 2013 May 9;3(5):e002772. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002772.
Early life factors, like intelligence and socioeconomic status (SES), are associated with health outcomes in adulthood. Fitting comprehensive life-course models, we tested (1) the effect of childhood intelligence and SES, education and adulthood SES on psychological distress at midlife, and (2) compared alternative measurement specifications (reflective and formative) of SES.
Prospective cohort study (the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s).
Aberdeen, Scotland.
12 500 live-births (6282 boys) between 1950 and 1956, who were followed up in the years 2001-2003 at age 46-51 with a postal questionnaire achieving a response rate of 64% (7183).
Psychological distress at age 46-51 (questionnaire).
Childhood intelligence and SES and education had indirect effects on psychological distress at midlife, mediated by adult SES. Adult SES was the only variable to have a significant direct effect on psychological distress at midlife; the effect was stronger in men than in women. Alternative measurement specifications of SES (reflective and formative) resulted in greatly different model parameters and fits.
Even though formative operationalisations of SES are theoretically appropriate, SES is better specified as reflective than as a formative latent variable in the context of life-course modelling.
早期生活因素，如智力和社会经济地位（SES），与成年后的健康结果有关。通过拟合综合的生命历程模型，我们测试了（1）儿童智力和 SES、教育和成年 SES 对中年心理困扰的影响，以及（2）比较 SES 的替代测量规范（反射和形成）。
前瞻性队列研究（1950 年阿伯丁儿童）。
苏格兰阿伯丁。
1950 年至 1956 年间出生的 12500 名活产儿（6282 名男孩），在 2001-2003 年进行了随访，当时他们的年龄在 46-51 岁，通过邮寄问卷进行了随访，应答率为 64%（7183 人）。
46-51 岁时的心理困扰（问卷）。
儿童时期的智力和 SES 以及教育对中年的心理困扰有间接影响，这是通过成年 SES 介导的。成年 SES 是对中年心理困扰有显著直接影响的唯一变量；这种影响在男性中比在女性中更强。SES 的替代测量规范（反射和形成）导致了模型参数和拟合的极大差异。
尽管 SES 的形成操作化在理论上是合适的，但在生命历程建模的背景下，SES 作为反射变量比作为形成潜在变量更好地被指定。
