The association between childhood emotional functioning and adulthood inflammation is modified by early-life socioeconomic status.
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Identifying interrelationships among childhood social disadvantage, emotional functioning and adult health may help illustrate how health disparities may become embedded early in life, yet few have considered how these factors are associated. We examined whether the association of child emotional functioning and adult health risk was modified by child socioeconomic status (CSES), or whether child emotional functioning mediated the association of CSES and adult health risk. METHOD: We studied 430 adult offspring (mean age 42 years) of Collaborative Perinatal Project participants, a cohort of pregnant women enrolled in 1959-1966 (Broman, Nichols, & Kennedy, 1975; Niswander & Gordon, 1972). Child emotional functioning was assessed by psychologist ratings at age 7 and included inappropriate self regulation (ISR) and distress proneness. CSES measures included parental education, household income, and parental occupation. Adult health risk was measured by the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP). Hypotheses were tested with multiple linear regression. Effect modification was evaluated via interaction terms and stratification of fully adjusted models by CSES. Mediation by child emotional functioning was evaluated via coefficient changes. RESULTS: There was no evidence that child emotional functioning mediated the association of CSES and CRP. Significant interactions were observed for ISR and low income (b = 1.67, SE = 0.70, p < .05), and distress proneness and low (b = 3.14, SE = 1.47, p < .05) and middle (b = 3.52, SE = 1.46, p < .05) income. Stratified models indicated that associations of child emotion with CRP varied significantly by level of parental education, household income and occupation. CONCLUSION: The highest levels of adult inflammation were observed among those with childhood emotional problems who were also exposed to low socioeconomic status as children. This study suggests adulthood disparities in CRP may have developmental origins in childhood adversity.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Low socioeconomic status in childhood is related to higher levels of circulating IL-6 and CRP in adults.
“Low socioeconomic status in childhood, in turn, has been related to higher levels of circulating IL-6 and CRP in adults”
From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as Appleton et al., 2012
The Results (Evaluating Evidence for Effect Modification; page unavailable) report higher adult CRP among children with emotional-functioning problems who grew up in low-SES environments, compared with similarly functioning children from higher-SES environments. The claim omits that qualification, and the paper reports CRP rather than IL-6 as its adult inflammatory measure. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,542 · see citing works
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,532 · see citing works
The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population
Radloff, L. S. (1977) · Applied Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/014662167700100306 · Cited by 53,267 · see citing works
Job Demands, Job Decision Latitude, and Mental Strain: Implications for Job Redesign
Karasek, R. A. (1979) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2392498 · Cited by 12,597 · see citing works
Pearson, T. A., Mensah, G. A., Alexander, R. W., Anderson, J. L., Cannon, R. O., Criqui, M., Fadl, Y. Y., Fortmann, S. P., Hong, Y., Myers, G. L., et al. (2003) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000052939.59093.45 · Cited by 6,401 · see citing works
MacKinnon, D. P., Fairchild, A. J., & Fritz, M. S. (2007) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085542 · Cited by 5,688 · see citing works
From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development
(2000) · doi:10.17226/9824 · Cited by 4,484 · see citing works
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
Miles-Mason, E. (2018) · Sage eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781483392271.n537 · Cited by 4,133 · see citing works
PearsonT, A., MensahG, A., & AlexanderR, W. (2003) · Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation · doi:10.1097/00008483-200305000-00016 · Cited by 2,937 · see citing works
Risky families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring
Repetti, R. L., Taylor, S. E., & Seeman, T. E. (2002) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.128.2.330 · Cited by 2,884 · see citing works
Associations of depression with C-reactive protein, IL-1, and IL-6: a meta-analysis.
Howren, M. B., Lamkin, D. M., & Suls, J. (2009) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0b013e3181907c1b · Cited by 2,766 · see citing works
Shonkoff, J. P., Boyce, W. T., & McEwen, B. S. (2009) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2009.754 · Cited by 2,326 · see citing works
Socioeconomic Status in Health Research
Braveman, P., Cubbin, C., Egerter, S. A., Chideya, S., Marchi, K. S., Metzler, M. M., & Posner, S. F. (2005) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.294.22.2879 · Cited by 2,272 · see citing works
Social, emotional, and personality development
Eisenberg, N., & Damon, W. (1998) · Wiley eBooks · Cited by 1,903 · see citing works
Emotions, morbidity, and mortality: new perspectives from psychoneuroimmunology.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., McGuire, L., Robles, T. F., & Glaser, R. (2002) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135217 · Cited by 1,176 · see citing works
Danese, A., Moffitt, T. E., Harrington, H., Milne, B. J., Polanczyk, G., Pariante, C. M., Poulton, R., & Caspi, A. (2009) · Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine · doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.214 · Cited by 1,165 · see citing works
Inflammatory markers in population studies of aging
Singh, T., & Newman, A. B. (2010) · Ageing Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.arr.2010.11.002 · Cited by 866 · see citing works
PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
Everson‐Rose, S. A., & Lewis, T. T. (2005) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144542 · Cited by 806 · see citing works
Prediction of Differential Adult Health Burden by Conduct Problem Subtypes in Males
Odgers, C. L., Caspi, A., Broadbent, J. M., Dickson, N. P., Hancox, R. J., Harrington, H., Poulton, R., Sears, M. R., Thomson, W. M., & Moffitt, T. E. (2007) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.64.4.476 · Cited by 460 · see citing works
Are psychosocial factors mediators of socioeconomic status and health connections?
Matthews, K. A., Gallo, L. C., & Taylor, S. E. (2010) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05332.x · Cited by 413 · see citing works
Preschool IQ: Prenatal and Early Developmental Correlates
Cook, T. D., Broman, S. H., Nichols, P. L., & Kennedy, W. A. (1976) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1421421 · Cited by 301 · see citing works
Taylor, S. E., Lehman, B. J., Kiefe, C. I., & Seeman, T. E. (2006) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.03.016 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
Niswander, K. R., & Gordon, M. (1972) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Early-life and adult socioeconomic status and inflammatory risk markers in adulthood
Pollitt, R. A., Kaufman, J. S., Rose, K. M., Diez-Roux, A. V., Zeng, D., & Heiss, G. (2007) · European Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s10654-006-9082-1 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Early Manifestations of Personality and Adult Emotional Functioning.
Kubzansky, L. D., Martin, L. T., & Buka, S. L. (2004) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.4.4.364 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Self-citationTaxonic Structure of Infant Reactivity: Evidence From a Taxometric Perspective
Woodward, S. A., Lenzenweger, M. F., Kagan, J., Snidman, N. C., & Arcus, D. M. (2000) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00259 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Goodwin, R. D., Sourander, A., Duarte, C. S., Niemelä, S., Multimäki, P., Nikolakaros, G., Helenius, H., Piha, J., Kumpulainen, K., Moilanen, I., et al. (2009) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291708003504 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Early manifestations of personality and adult health: A life course perspective.
Kubzansky, L. D., Martin, L. T., & Buka, S. L. (2009) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0014428 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Self-citationAiello, A., & Kaplan, G. (2009) · Biodemography and Social Biology · doi:10.1080/19485560903382304 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
The health effects of jobs: status, working conditions, or both?
D’Souza, R. M., Strazdins, L. M., Clements, M., Broom, D. H., Parslow, R., & Rodgers, B. (2005) · Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1111/j.1467-842x.2005.tb00759.x · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Emotional Functioning at Age 7 Years is Associated With C-Reactive Protein in Middle Adulthood
Appleton, A. A., Buka, S. L., McCormick, M. C., Koenen, K. C., Loucks, E. B., Gilman, S. E., & Kubzansky, L. D. (2011) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0b013e31821534f6 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationCardiac vagal tone indices of temperamental reactivity and behavioral regulation in young children
Calkins, S. D. (1997) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199709)31:2
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Slavich, G. M., & Irwin, M. R. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0035302 · Cited by 2,206 · see citing works
Socioeconomic status and inflammation: a meta-analysis
Muscatell, K. A., Brosso, S. N., & Humphreys, K. L. (2018) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-018-0259-2 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
Slopen, N. B., Loucks, E. B., Appleton, A. A., Kawachi, I. I., Kubzansky, L. D., Non, A. L., Buka, S. L., & Gilman, S. E. (2014) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.10.016 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Self-citationMarks, D. F. (2015) · Health Psychology Open · doi:10.1177/2055102915590692 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Childhood socioeconomic status and inflammation: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Milaniak, I., & Jaffee, S. R. (2019) · Brain Behavior and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2019.01.018 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Ports, K. A., Holman, D. M., Guinn, A. S., Pampati, S., Dyer, K. E., Merrick, M. T., Lunsford, N. B., & Metzler, M. M. (2018) · Journal of Pediatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2018.10.009 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Liu, R., Aiello, A. E., Mensah, F. K., Gasser, C. E., Rueb, K., Cordell, B., Juonala, M., Wake, M. A., & Burgner, D. P. (2017) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech-2016-208646 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Lacey, R. E., Kumari, M., & McMunn, A. (2013) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.05.007 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Experimental Evidence That Low Social Status Is Most Toxic to Well-Being When Internalized
Jackson, B. M., Richman, L. S., LaBelle, O. P., Lempereur, M. S., & Twenge, J. M. (2014) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2014.965732 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Childhood Social Disadvantage, Cardiometabolic Risk, and Chronic Disease in Adulthood
Non, A. L., Rewak, M., Kawachi, I. I., Gilman, S. E., Loucks, E. B., Appleton, A. A., Román, J. C., Buka, S. L., & Kubzansky, L. D. (2014) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/kwu127 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Self-citationSocioeconomic Status, Daily Affective and Social Experiences, and Inflammation During Adolescence
Chiang, J. J., Bower, J. E., Almeida, D. M., Irwin, M. R., Seeman, T. E., & Fuligni, A. J. (2015) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000160 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Internalizing and externalizing behaviors predict elevated inflammatory markers in childhood
Slopen, N. B., Kubzansky, L. D., & Koenen, K. C. (2013) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.07.012 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationA systematic review of associations between emotion regulation characteristics and inflammation
Moriarity, D. P., Grehl, M. M., Walsh, R. F. L., Roos, L. G., Slavich, G. M., & Alloy, L. B. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105162 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Zinn, M. E., Huntley, E. D., & Keating, D. P. (2020) · Journal of Adolescence · doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.04.004 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Adversity in preschool-aged children: Effects on salivary interleukin-1β
Tyrka, A. R., Parade, S. H., Valentine, T. R., Eslinger, N. M., & Seifer, R. (2015) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579415000164 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Rodríguez‐Ayllón, M., Neumann, A., Hofman, A., Voortman, T., Lubans, D. R., Yang‐Huang, J., Jansen, P. W., Raat, H., Vernooij, M. W., & Muetzel, R. L. (2023) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.0294 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Non, A. L., Román, J. C., Clausing, E. S., Gilman, S. E., Loucks, E. B., Buka, S. L., Appleton, A. A., & Kubzansky, L. D. (2020) · International Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12529-020-09849-w · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Self-citationInterleukin 1B gene (IL1B) variation and internalizing symptoms in maltreated preschoolers
Ridout, K. K., Parade, S. H., Seifer, R., Price, L. H., Gelernter, J. E., Feliz, P., & Tyrka, A. R. (2014) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579414001023 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Mathur, A., Li, J. C., Lipitz, S. R., & Graham‐Engeland, J. E. (2022) · Adversity and Resilience Science · doi:10.1007/s42844-022-00051-3 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Cowley, J. G., Kiely, J., & Collins, D. J. (2016) · Preventive Medicine Reports · doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.08.004 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Li, A., Tu, M. T., Sousa, A. C. P. D. A., Alvarado, B., Koné, G. K., Guralnik, J. M., & Zunzunegui, M. V. (2015) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-015-0104-2 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Wideman, L., Calkins, S. D., Janssen, J. A., Lovelady, C. A., Dollar, J. M., Keane, S. P., Perrin, E. M., & Shanahan, L. (2016) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3133-7 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Mo, X., Shi, G., Zhang, Y., Xu, X. P., & Ji, C. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1052693 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Byrne, M. L., Horne, S., O’brien-simpson, N. M., Walsh, K. A., Reynolds, E. C., Schwartz, O., Whittle, S., Simmons, J. G., Sheeber, L., & Allen, N. B. (2017) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000502 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Saarinen, A. I. L., Keltikangas‐Järvinen, L., Dobewall, H., Ahola‐Olli, A., Salmi, M., Lehtimäki, T. J., Raitakari, O. T., Jalkanen, S., & Hintsanen, M. (2021) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.22070 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Tang, A., Fox, N. A., Nelson, C. A., Zeanah, C. H., & Slopen, N. B. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104408 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Why does happiness matter? Understanding the relation between positive emotion and health outcomes
Barreto, S. M. (2017) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.08.029 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
The Mental Burden of Immunoperception
Saghazadeh, A., Hafizi, S., & Rezaei, N. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-10620-1_9 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Association between psychosocial factors and C-reactive protein across income, race, and sex.
Cundiff, J. M., Bennett, A., Williams, A., Cushman, M., & Howard, V. J. (2023) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0001310 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
A Two-Article Examination of the Integration of Trauma-informed Care with Adult Medical Care
Czabafy, S. (2017) · ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania)
Reflexiones en torno al estrés y su relación con la enfermedad cardiovascular
Lemos, M. (2016) · Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos de Psicología · doi:10.18270/chps..v15i2.1910
Standard Measurement Protocols for Pediatric Development Research in the PhenX Toolkit
Enlow, M. B., Chung, R. J., Parisi, M. A., Sagiv, S. K., Sheridan, M. A., Stroustrup, A., Wright, R. J., Cox, L., Beverly, J., Hendershot, T. P., et al. (2022) · doi:10.3768/rtipress.2022.mr.0049.2209
Effects of childhood stress: hardwired or reversible?
Turner‐Cobb, J. M., Jessop, D. S., & Lightman, S. L. (2012) · Explore Bristol Research
The Influence of AI Threats on Employee Behavior and Turnover Intentions
Saloni, S., & Gupta, N. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-92-2623-8_3
- Authors
- Appleton, A. A., Buka, S. L., McCormick, M. C., Koenen, K. C., Loucks, E. B., & Kubzansky, L. D.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Brown University (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Health Psychology
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 413-422
- ISSN
- 0278-6133 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-7810
- PMC
- PMC3810389
- OpenAlex
- W2067215815
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 4.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Health Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- United States Department of Health and Human Services (P50 CA084719)
- National Cancer Institute
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- National Institute of Aging (AG023397).)
- Harvard School of Public Health (T32HL098048)
- National Institutes of Mental Health (K08-MH070627; MH078928)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Keywords
- socioeconomic status, childhood adversity, C-reactive protein, health disparities, mediation, effect modification, Collaborative Perinatal Project, parental income, parental education, parental occupation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, C-Reactive Protein, Child, Educational Status, Emotions, Family, Female, Humans, Income, Inflammation, New England, Occupations, Pregnancy, Risk, Social Class, Stress, Psychological, Cohort Studies, Biomarkers, Health Status Disparities
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
