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. 2020 May 8:11:100592.
doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100592. eCollection 2020 Aug.

The impact of financial hardship in childhood on depression and anxiety in adult life: Testing the accumulation, critical period and social mobility hypotheses

Karyn Morrissey  1 , Peter Kinderman  2
Affiliations

The impact of financial hardship in childhood on depression and anxiety in adult life: Testing the accumulation, critical period and social mobility hypotheses

Karyn Morrissey et al. SSM Popul Health. .

Erratum in

Abstract

This paper examines the association between financial hardship in childhood and adulthood, and depression and anxiety in adulthood with reference to the accumulation, critical period and social mobility hypotheses in lifecourse epidemiology. Using the BBC Stress test, linear regression models were used to investigate the associations for the whole population and stratifying by gender and adjusting for age and highest education attainment. The critical period hypothesis was not confirmed. The accumulation hypothesis was confirmed and stratifying by gender women had a higher estimated mean GAD score if they were poor in both childhood and adulthood compared to men. Our findings do not support the social mobility hypothesis. However, stratifying by gender, a clear difference emerged with upward mobility having a favourable impact (lower) on women's mean GAD scores, while upward social mobility in adulthood did not attenuate the impact of financial hardship in childhood or men. The impact of financial hardship in childhood on later mental health outcomes is particularly concerning for future health outcomes as current levels of child poverty increases in the UK.

Keywords: Adult health; Childhood; Depression and anxiety; Financial hardship; Lifecourse epidemiology.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Boxplot of average Goldberg Anxiety & Depression (GAD) score by childhood and adulthood financial hardship.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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