Parental separation and adult psychological distress: an investigation of material and relational mechanisms

BMC Public Health

Noriko Cable²  Mai Stafford¹  Hynek Pikhart²  Mel Bartley²  Rebecca E Lacey² 

[1]MRC Unit for Lifelong Health & Ageing, 33 Bedford Place, WC1B 5JU London, UK

[2]Department Epidemiology & Public Health, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, WC1E 6BT London, UK

关键词: British cohort study;    Psychological distress;    Parent–child relationships;    Material disadvantage;    Divorce;   

Others  :  1131869
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-14-272

 received in 2013-10-16, accepted in 2014-03-20,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

An association between parental separation or divorce occurring in childhood and increased psychological distress in adulthood is well established. However relatively little is known about why this association exists and how the mechanisms might differ for men and women. We investigate why this association exists, focussing on material and relational mechanisms and in particular on the way in which these link across the life course.

Methods

This study used the 1970 British Cohort Study (n = 10,714) to investigate material (through adolescent and adult material disadvantage, and educational attainment) and relational (through parent–child relationship quality and adult partnership status) pathways between parental separation (0–16 years) and psychological distress (30 years). Psychological distress was measured using Rutter’s Malaise Inventory. The inter-linkages between these two broad mechanisms across the life course were also investigated. Missing data were multiply imputed by chained equations. Path analysis was used to explicitly model prospectively-collected measures across the life course, therefore methodologically extending previous work.

Results

Material and relational pathways partially explained the association between parental separation in childhood and adult psychological distress (indirect effect = 33.3% men; 60.0% women). The mechanisms were different for men and women, for instance adult partnership status was found to be more important for men. Material and relational factors were found to interlink across the life course. Mechanisms acting through educational attainment were found to be particularly important.

Conclusions

This study begins to disentangle the mechanisms between parental separation in childhood and adult psychological distress. Interventions which aim to support children through education, in particular, are likely to be particularly beneficial for later psychological health.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Lacey et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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