Early Parental Loss and Self-Rated Health of Older Women and Men: A Population-Based, Multi-Country Study
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OBJECTIVE: Death of a parent in childhood can diminish both the nurturing that promotes healthy development, and household income. We consider, for the first time, whether this adverse childhood experience is associated with self-rated health decades later, among seniors and whether this lifelong effect is different for women and men. METHODS: The International Mobility in Aging (IMIAS) study is a prospective cohort with survey information and biophysical measures and markers from 2000 community-dwelling 65-74 year olds in Canada, Colombia, Brazil and Albania. We assessed the independent impact of death of a parent, early hunger, and witnessing violence, while controlling for current income sufficiency and other early adversities on self-rated health using baseline (2012) IMIAS data. Regressions grouping and then separating women and men were compared. RESULTS: Approximately 17% of the 1991 participants had experienced early parental loss. Overall 56% rated their health as good however parental loss predicted poorer adult health, as did early hunger but not witnessing violence. Disaggregated analyses revealed that the health consequences of parental loss were significant only among men (p = 0.000 versus p = 0.210 for women) whereas early hunger predicted poor self-rated health for both (p = 0.000). CONCLUSION: Parental loss should be considered as a potent adverse childhood experience with life-long consequences for health. The gender difference in its effect, speaks to unidentified and modifiable traits that appear to be more common among women and that may build resilience to long-term harms of early parental death.
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Children losing primary caregivers have higher risks of experiencing mental health problems; physical, emotional, and sexual violence; and family poverty.
“Children losing primary caregivers have higher risks of experiencing mental health problems; physical, emotional, and sexual violence; and family poverty.8, 9, 10”
From Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers: a modelling study (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
The Introduction says parental loss can precipitate socioeconomic deprivation and predicts poorer subsequent mental health. It does not say that losing a caregiver increases children's risk of physical, emotional, or sexual violence; the Results found no significant correlation between parental death and witnessing violence. The paper concerns parental loss, rather than loss of primary caregivers generally. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAdverse experiences raise risks of suicide, adolescent pregnancy, infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, and chronic diseases.
“These adverse experiences raise risks of suicide, adolescent pregnancy, infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, and chronic diseases.11, 12”
From Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers: a modelling study (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
The Introduction says adverse childhood experiences are associated with mental and physical illness decades later, and the Results link parental loss and childhood hunger to poorer self-rated health in older adults. The paper does not report risks of suicide, adolescent pregnancy, HIV/AIDS or other infectious diseases, and it does not establish a risk for a specific chronic disease. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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References 24 · Cited by 20
Research works printed but not linked: 19
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- Authors
- Phillips, S. P., & Carver, L.
- Affiliations
- Queen's University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Phillips, Susan P.
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2015-04-01
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e0120762
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4382220
- OpenAlex
- W2114943853
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 2.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2015-05-21)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DiVA at Umeå University (Umeå University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (108751)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Keywords
- parental loss, adverse childhood experiences, self-rated health, older adults, gender differences, witnessing violence, childhood adversity, resilience
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Child, Death, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Parents, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Cohort Studies, Internationality
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