Socioeconomic risk, parenting during the preschool years and child health age 6 years.
BACKGROUND
Parent child relationships and parenting processes are emerging as potential life course determinants of health. Parenting is socially patterned and could be one of the factors responsible for the negative effects of social inequalities on health, both in childhood and adulthood. This study tests the hypothesis that some of the effect of socioeconomic risk on health in mid childhood is transmitted via early parenting.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study in 10 USA communities involving 1041 mother/child pairs, selected at birth at random with conditional sampling.


METHODS
income, maternal education, maternal age, lone parenthood, ethnic status and objective assessments of mother child interaction in the first 4 years of life covering warmth, negativity and positive control.


RESULTS
mother's report of child's health in general at 6 years. Modelling: multiple regression analyses with statistical testing of mediational processes.


RESULTS
All five indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) were correlated with all three measures of parenting, such that low SES was associated with poor parenting. Among the measures of parenting maternal warmth was independently predictive of future health, and among the socioeconomic variables maternal education, partner presence and 'other ethnic group' proved predictive. Measures of parenting significantly mediated the impact of measures of SES on child health.


CONCLUSIONS
Parenting mediates some, but not all of the detectable effects of socioeconomic risk on health in childhood. As part of a package of measures that address other determinants, interventions to support parenting are likely to make a useful contribution to reducing childhood inequalities in health.
Belsky
Jay
J
Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues, Birkbeck University of London, UK.
Bell
Brian
B
Bradley
Robert H
RH
Stallard
Nigel
N
Stewart-Brown
Sarah Lynette
SL
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D004645:Empathy; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008423:Maternal Age; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054582:National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.); D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014743:Videotape Recording