Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
CLOSER, UCL, London, UK.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2021 Feb;75(2):177-184. doi: 10.1136/jech-2019-213709. Epub 2020 Sep 23.
Previous evidence has shown how experiences within childhood, such as parenting and socioeconomic conditions, are associated later on in life with adult mental well-being. However, these studies tend to focus on childhood experiences in isolation, and fewer studies have investigated how multiple aspects of the childhood environment, including both socioeconomic and psychosocial aspects, are associated with adult positive mental well-being. Using data from three British birth cohort studies, we investigated how prospective measures of the childhood environment up to the age of 16 years were associated with midlife adult mental well-being and whether similar associations were replicated across different generations.
Childhood environment comprised socioeconomic circumstances, psychosocial factors (child-rearing and parenting, family instability) and parental health. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, a validated instrument measuring both hedonic and eudaemonic aspects of well-being, was administered in mid-life. We modelled associations between childhood environment domains and well-being.
Despite changes in social context in all three studies, poorer quality parent-child relationships and poor parental mental health were strongly and independently associated with poorer adult mental well-being. Socioeconomic circumstances were also associated with adult mental well-being, but the association was weaker than for the measures of parenting or parental mental health.
These findings confirm that parenting and parental mental health, as well as socioeconomic circumstances, are important for adult mental well-being. Interventions in early childhood aimed at reducing socioeconomic adversity and offering support to parents might be warranted, to enhance adult mental well-being later on in the life course.
先前的证据表明，儿童时期的经历，如育儿和社会经济状况，与成年后的心理健康密切相关。然而，这些研究往往侧重于孤立的童年经历，较少研究调查童年环境的多个方面，包括社会经济和心理社会方面，与成年积极心理健康的关系。本研究使用来自三项英国出生队列研究的数据，调查了 16 岁之前的前瞻性童年环境措施与中年成年人心理健康的关系，以及这些关联在不同代际中是否具有相似性。
童年环境包括社会经济状况、心理社会因素（育儿和养育、家庭不稳定）和父母健康。使用经过验证的沃里克-爱丁堡心理健康量表（一种测量幸福感的享乐和幸福两个方面的工具）在中年进行评估。我们建立了童年环境领域与幸福感之间的关联模型。
尽管在所有三项研究中社会背景都发生了变化，但较差的亲子关系质量和较差的父母心理健康与较差的成年心理健康显著且独立相关。社会经济状况也与成年心理健康有关，但关联强度弱于育儿或父母心理健康的测量。
这些发现证实了育儿和父母心理健康以及社会经济状况对成年心理健康的重要性。可能需要在儿童早期采取干预措施，以减少社会经济劣势并为父母提供支持，以增强成年后期的心理健康。
