Exploring household dynamics: the reciprocal effects of parent and child characteristics

A burgeoning line of literature has shown there are strong effects of maternal mental health on child socio-emotional development (Cummings & Davies, 1994; Downey & Coyne, 1990; Mensah & Kiernan, 2010; Smith, 2004). This literature is often based on the examination of dyadic relationships, where maternal mental health is hypothesised to have an effect on child development and well-being, and the mother-child relationship is examined in isolation of other household relationships. This may also be true in clinical practice: while family dynamics are often considered when treating children for behavioural problems or other psychological symptoms, this is often not the case when the parents are treated. However, household dynamics are complex, and other household members may have an effect both on the well-being of the mother and the child. Furthermore, children’s characteristics can also have a feedback effect on their parents’ outcomes. While the literature often concentrates on the effects of parents’ characteristics on child outcomes, the reverse might also occur. In this paper, we employ a structural equation model with crossed lagged effects, to understand the reciprocal relationships between the mother’s mental health, the child socio-emotional development, and the quality of the parental relationship. Analyses were conducted using longitudinal data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a prospective national birth cohort of children born in the UK in 2000-2001. The Millennium Cohort Study has a wealth of information on the socio-economic background of the household, and has collected data on the mother’s mental health, the quality of the parents’ relationship, and the children’s socio-emotional development. In this work we look at data relating to the pre-school age, a crucial developmental age which has often been missing from the literature

Asthma trajectories in early childhood: identifying modifiable factors

BackgroundThere are conflicting views as to whether childhood wheezing represents several discreet entities or a single but variable disease. Classification has centered on phenotypes often derived using subjective criteria, small samples, and/or with little data for young children. This is particularly problematic as asthmatic features appear to be entrenched by age 6/7. In this paper we aim to: identify longitudinal trajectories of wheeze and other atopic symptoms in early childhood; characterize the resulting trajectories by the socio-economic background of children; and identify potentially modifiable processes in infancy correlated with these trajectories.Data and MethodsThe Millennium Cohort Study is a large, representative birth cohort of British children born in 2000–2002. Our analytical sample includes 11,632 children with data on key variables (wheeze in the last year; ever hay-fever and/or eczema) reported by the main carers at age 3, 5 and 7 using a validated tool, the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood module. We employ longitudinal Latent Class Analysis, a clustering methodology which identifies classes underlying the observed population heterogeneity.ResultsOur model distinguished four latent trajectories: a trajectory with both low levels of wheeze and other atopic symptoms (54% of the sample); a trajectory with low levels of wheeze but high prevalence of other atopic symptoms (29%); a trajectory with high prevalence of both wheeze and other atopic symptoms (9%); and a trajectory with high levels of wheeze but low levels of other atopic symptoms (8%). These groups differed in terms of socio-economic markers and potential intervenable factors, including household damp and breastfeeding initiation.ConclusionUsing data-driven techniques, we derived four trajectories of asthmatic symptoms in early childhood in a large, population based sample. These groups differ in terms of their socio-economic profiles. We identified correlated intervenable pathways in infancy, including household damp and breastfeeding initiation.<br/

La pauvreté des enfants à la naissance en France. Résultats de l’enquête Elfe

Cet article présente une description multidimensionnelle de la pauvreté des enfants en France, au moment de leur naissance et au cours de leur première année de vie. Plus précisément, il s’appuie sur deux principales mesures de pauvreté : la pauvreté monétaire et la pauvreté en conditions de vie (et de logement). L’approche généralement utilisée pour mesurer la pauvreté des adultes est ainsi appliquée aux jeunes enfants, ce qui permet de prendre en compte leurs besoins spécifiques. Diverses techniques de régression ont été mobilisées afin de mettre en évidence les groupes de population les plus vulnérables à la pauvreté monétaire et à la pauvreté en conditions de vie dans ses différentes dimensions

Socioemotional wellbeing of mixed race/ethnic children in the UK and US: patterns and mechanisms

Existing literature suggests that mixed race/ethnicity children are more likely to experience poor socioemotional wellbeing in both the US and the UK, although the evidence is stronger in the US. It is suggested that this inequality may be a consequence of struggles with identity formation, more limited connections with racial/ethnic/cultural heritage, and increased risk of exposure to racism. Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (n = 13,734) and the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n ~ 6250), we examine differences in the socioemotional wellbeing of mixed and non-mixed 5/6 year old children in the UK and US and explore heterogeneity in outcomes across different mixed groups in both locations. We estimate a series of linear regressions to examine the contribution of factors that may explain any observed differences, including socio-economic and cultural factors, and examine the extent to which these processes vary across the two nations. We find no evidence of greater risk for poor socioemotional wellbeing for mixed race/ethnicity children in both national contexts. We find that mixed race/ethnicity children experience socio-economic advantage compared to their non-mixed minority counterparts and that socio-economic advantage is protective for socioemotional wellbeing. Cultural factors do not contribute to differences in socioemotional wellbeing across mixed and non-mixed groups. Our evidence suggests then that at age 5/6 there is no evidence of poorer socioemotional wellbeing for mixed race/ethnicity children in either the UK or the US. The contrast between our findings and some previous literature, which reports that mixed race/ethnicity children have poorer socioemotional wellbeing, may reflect changes in the meaning of mixed identities across periods and/or the developmental stage of the children we studied

The inter-relationship of adolescent unhappiness and parental mental distress

Purpose Substantial evidence supports the hypothesis that parental well-being impacts upon child well-being and that this relationship is bidirectional. Here we explore how, in a large, nationally representative sample, both parents' mental distress relates over time to each other's mental distress and to their adolescent child's unhappiness, and vice versa. Methods Analyses were conducted using data from waves one to five (2009/10–2014/15) of Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Understanding Society collects data on adults' mental distress (General Health Questionnaire), and on youths' (age: 10–15 years) unhappiness in relation to their school work, appearance, family, friends, school, and life as a whole. We use repeated-measures structural equation models to investigate the reciprocal relationships between both parents' distress and their child's unhappiness, using both longitudinal cross-lagged and nonrecursive contemporaneous specifications. The analytic sample is 1,883 triads (adolescent child, mother, and father) with data at two or more consecutive time points. Analyses are stratified by adolescent gender. Results Our results show that parental mental distress predicts unhappiness of girls but not that of boys. Reciprocal associations of maternal and paternal mental distress are evident in families with an adolescent daughter. Unhappiness of adolescents does not predict their parents' mental distress. Results are similar whether examined contemporaneously or over time. Conclusions Our findings support the suggestion that the family should be considered as a dynamic system, for instance when planning clinical interventions. This is particularly pertinent in families with an adolescent daughter present

International differences in gradients in early childhood overweight and obesity : the role of maternal employment and formal childcare attendance

Background There are significant cross-country differences in socio-economic gradients in later childhood and adulthood overweight/obesity; few studies assess whether this cross-national variation is evident from early childhood. Furthermore, the role of childcare in explaining overweight/obesity gradients might vary across countries, given differences in access, quality and heterogeneity within. Additionally, childcare is linked to parental characteristics such as maternal employment. The interplay between childcare and employment in producing early overweight/obesity gradients has received little attention, and might vary cross-nationally. Methods Using harmonized data from six high-quality, large datasets, we explore the variation in gradients in early overweight/obesity (at age 3–4 years old) by parental education across several high-income countries (USA, UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan). We then assess whether differential formal group care use attenuates some of these gradients, and whether this varies across maternal employment. Results Gradients in early childhood overweight/obesity by parental education are evident across several developed countries. Countries with higher overall prevalence of early overweight/obesity did not have the largest inequalities across education groups. The contribution of formal group care to producing these gradients varied across countries and across maternal employment status. Conclusion Early childhood inequalities in overweight/obesity are pervasive across developed countries, as noted for older children and adults. However, mechanisms producing these gradients vary across national contexts. Our study shows that, given the right context, quality childcare and maternal employment can successfully support healthy weight trajectories and not contribute (or even reduce) social inequalities in early overweight/obesity

The LifeCycle Project-EU Child Cohort Network : a federated analysis infrastructure and harmonized data of more than 250,000 children and parents

Early life is an important window of opportunity to improve health across the full lifecycle. An accumulating body of evidence suggests that exposure to adverse stressors during early life leads to developmental adaptations, which subsequently affect disease risk in later life. Also, geographical, socio-economic, and ethnic differences are related to health inequalities from early life onwards. To address these important public health challenges, many European pregnancy and childhood cohorts have been established over the last 30 years. The enormous wealth of data of these cohorts has led to important new biological insights and important impact for health from early life onwards. The impact of these cohorts and their data could be further increased by combining data from different cohorts. Combining data will lead to the possibility of identifying smaller effect estimates, and the opportunity to better identify risk groups and risk factors leading to disease across the lifecycle across countries. Also, it enables research on better causal understanding and modelling of life course health trajectories. The EU Child Cohort Network, established by the Horizon2020-funded LifeCycle Project, brings together nineteen pregnancy and childhood cohorts, together including more than 250,000 children and their parents. A large set of variables has been harmonised and standardized across these cohorts. The harmonized data are kept within each institution and can be accessed by external researchers through a shared federated data analysis platform using the R-based platform DataSHIELD, which takes relevant national and international data regulations into account. The EU Child Cohort Network has an open character. All protocols for data harmonization and setting up the data analysis platform are available online. The EU Child Cohort Network creates great opportunities for researchers to use data from different cohorts, during and beyond the LifeCycle Project duration. It also provides a novel model for collaborative research in large research infrastructures with individual-level data. The LifeCycle Project will translate results from research using the EU Child Cohort Network into recommendations for targeted prevention strategies to improve health trajectories for current and future generations by optimizing their earliest phases of life.Peer reviewe

Do flexible work policies improve parents' health?:A natural experiment based on the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Background There is limited evidence of the impact of policies to promote work–family balance on family health. Exploiting the introduction of the UK Flexible Working Act (2003), we examined whether a policy that grants parents the right to request flexible work influences their health and well-being. Methods Using the UK Millennium Cohort Study, we focus on 6424 mothers employed in 2001–2002, when the cohort child was 9 months old, until their child’s seventh birthday. We used a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach to compare changes in outcomes before and after the policy among mothers most likely to benefit and mothers unlikely to benefit from the policy. Results Flexible working increased in a small group of mothers (n=548) whose employer did not offer work flexibility before the reform (treatment group). By contrast, among mothers whose employer already offered flexible work before the reform (control group, n=5810), there was little change or a slight decline in flexible working. DiD estimates suggest that the policy was associated with an increase in flexible working (37.5 percentage points, 95% CI 32.9 to 41.6), but it had no impact on self-rated health (−1.6 percentage points, 95% CI −4.4 to 1.1), long-term illness (−1.87 percentage points, 95% CI −4.3 to 0.5) or life satisfaction scores (β=0.04, 95% CI −0.08 to 0.16). Conclusion The Flexible Working Act increased flexible working only among a small group of mothers who had not yet the right to request work flexibility, but it had no impact on their health and well-being. Policies promoting work flexibility may require stronger incentives for both parents and employers