Citation

Roustit C, Campoy E, Renahy E, King G, Parizot I, Chauvin P. BMC Public Health 2011; 11(1): 949.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/1471-2458-11-949

PMID

22192716

PMCID

PMC3268116

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Family social support, as part of social capital, contributes to the social health disparities at different age of life. In a life-course epidemiological perspective, the aim of our study was to examine the association between self-reported family social environment during childhood and self-reported health in young adulthood, and to assess the role of family functioning during childhood as a potential mediating factor in explaining the association between family breakup in childhood and self-reported health in young adulthood. METHODS: We analyzed data from the first wave of the Health, Inequalities and Social Ruptures Survey (SIRS), a longitudinal health and socio-epidemiological survey of a random sample of 3000 households initiated in the Paris metropolitan area in 2005. Sample-weighted logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between the quality of family social environment in childhood and self-rated health (overall health, physical health and psychological well-being) in young adults (n = 1006). We used structural equation model to explore the mediating role of the quality of family functioning in childhood in the association between family breakup in childhood and self-rated health in young adulthood taking into account socio-economic status in adulthood. RESULTS: The results support an association between a negative family social environment in childhood, self-reported by the subjects, and poor self-perceived health in adulthood. The association found between parental separation or divorce in childhood and poor self-perceived health in adulthood was mediated by parent-child relationships and by having witnessed interparental violence during childhood. CONCLUSION: These results argue for interventions that enhance family cohesion, particularly after family disruptions during childhood, in order to promote health in young adulthood.

Language: en