GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARENTS CAN IMPROVE CHILDRREN''S HEALTH-- BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Growing up in a well-off home can benefit a
child's physical health even decades later -- but
a lack of parent-child warmth, or the presence of
abuse, may eliminate the health advantage of a
privileged background, according to a Baylor
University study.
"Previous research has associated high socioeconomic
status with better childhood nutrition, sleep,
neighborhood quality and opportunities for exercise and
development of social skills. But good parent-child bonds
may be necessary to enforce eating, sleep and activity
routines," said researcher Matthew A. Andersson, Ph.D.,
assistant professor of sociology in Baylor's College of
Arts & Sciences.
For example, if parent-child relationships are strained or
abusive, meals may be less coordinated among the
family, and children may be more likely to eat sugary or
high-fat foods as snacks or even in place of meals. Sleep
and activity routines also may become irregular, keeping
children from developing healthy lifestyles and social and
emotional skills useful for successful aging, Andersson
said.
On the flip side, good parent-child bonds in economically
disadvantaged homes, while they promote health, do not
seem to lessen the negative impact of low socioeconomic
status as the children age, Andersson said. Previous
research has shown parents with less education and
fewer financial advantages are more apt to threaten or
force obedience rather than have constructive dialogue,
and that may lessen warm relationships. In addition,
disease rates or inflammation among those children when
they become adults have been linked strongly to abuse,
mistreatment or lower levels of parental warmth.
The study on Midlife Health and Parent-Child
Relationships is published in the Journal of Health and
Social Behavior.
For the study, health at midlife was defined as being free
from 28 possible conditions, among them cancer,
circulatory or respiratory disease, endocrine diseases,
nervous system diseases, infectious and parasitic
diseases, skin or digestive disease and musculoskeletal
conditions.
"Much research continues to view socioeconomic status
and parent-child bonds as highly related or even
interchangeable. But in fact they may quite independently
influence a child's well-being," Andersson said.
"The key takeaway is that without adequate parent-child
relationship quality to match, socioeconomic advantage
during childhood may not offer much protection at all
against major chronic disease as children become adults
and reach middle age."
For the study, Andersson analyzed data on disease or
poor health of middle-aged adults drawn from the
National Survey of Midlife Development in the United
States (MIDUS). He surveyed 2,746 respondents ages 25
to 75 in 1995 about their childhood treatment by parents.
He conducted surveys again about 10 years later, with
1,692 of the individuals taking part. The follow-up
analysis, adjusted for personal background in 1995 and
for probability of dropping out of the MIDUS study,
revealed that childhood abuse continued to undermine
any protection from disease linked to childhood
socioeconomic advantage.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Baylor University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference :
1. M. A. Andersson. Chronic Disease at Midlife: Do
Parent-child Bonds Modify the Effect of Childhood
SES? Journal of Health and Social Behavior , 2016; 57
(3): 373 DOI: 10.1177/0022146516661596


SOURCE: BAYLOR UNIVERSITY