Journal
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
Volume 38, Issue 11, Pages 2476-2484Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.05.007
Keywords
Cohort study; Divorce; Inflammation; Material disadvantage; NCDS; Path analysis; Relationships
Categories
Funding
- European Research Council [ERC-2011-StG_20101124]
- Economic and Social research council [RES-596-28-0001]
- NHLBI [HL36310]
- ESRC [ES/J019119/1, ES/J023299/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- MRC [MR/K013351/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Economic and Social Research Council [ES/J023299/1, ES/J019119/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Medical Research Council [MR/K013351/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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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 = 7462). Results: Participants that report parental separation have higher CRP levels at age 44 than those who grew up with both parents (beta = 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. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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