Social class in childhood and general health in adulthood: questionnaire study of contribution of psychological attributes
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Objective : To determine the contribution of psychological attributes (personality characteristics and coping styles) to the association between social class in childhood and adult health among men and women. Design : Partly retrospective, partly cross sectional study conducted in the framework of the Dutch GLOBE study. Subjects : Sample of general population from south east Netherlands consisting of 2174men and women aged 25-74years. Baseline self reported data from 1991provided information on childhood and adult social class, psychological attributes, and general health. Main outcome measure : Self rated poor health. Results : Independent of adult social class, low childhood social class was related to self rated poor health (odds ratio 1.67(95% confidence interval 1.02to 2.75) for subjects whose fathers were unskilled manual workers versus subjects whose fathers were higher grade professionals). Subjects whose fathers were manual workers generally had more unfavourable personality profiles and more negative coping styles. External locus of control, neuroticism, and the absence of active problem focused coping explained about half of the association between childhood social class and self rated poor health. The findings were independent of adult social class and height. Conclusions : A higher prevalence of negative personality profiles and adverse coping styles in subjects who grew up in lower social classes explains part of the association between social class in childhood and adult health. This finding underlines the importance of psychological mechanisms in the examination of the negative effects of adverse socioeconomic conditions in childhood.
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Different models may also characterize different personality traits and outcome.
“Different models may also characterize different personality traits and outcome [32, 206–210].”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [210]
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- Authors
- Bosma, H., van de Mheen, H. D., & Mackenbach, J. P.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Bosma, Hans
- Venue
- BMJ
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 1999-01-02
- Volume
- 318
- Issue
- 7175
- Pages
- 18-22
- ISSN
- 0007-1447 (ISSN-L)
- 0959-8138
- 1468-5833
- PMC
- PMC27669
- OpenAlex
- W2163898763
- Cited by
- 172
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 11.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.bmj.com/company/legal-information/terms-conditions/legal-information/tdm-licencepolicy (tdm)
- Locations
- BMJ (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Health › Public Health and Social Inequalities
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Employment and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- childhood social class, adult health, personality traits, coping styles, external locus of control, neuroticism, problem-focused coping, socioeconomic conditions, GLOBE study
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Child, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Netherlands, Personality, Retrospective Studies, Social Class, Prevalence
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