title: Childhood misfortune as a threat to successful aging: avoiding disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine whether childhood misfortune reduces the likelihood of being disease free in adulthood.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article used a sample of 3,000+ American adults, aged 25-74, who were first interviewed in 1995 and reinterviewed in 2005. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of avoiding disease at the first wave and remaining disease free a decade later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consistent with a life course view of successful aging, higher levels of childhood misfortune (e.g., abuse, financial strain) are associated with a lower probability of disease avoidance. This pattern was observed across a large set of chronic conditions and in multivariate analyses spanning both waves of the study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Childhood misfortune has approximately equal consequences for adult disease avoidance as does the combined effect of moderate lifetime smoking and obesity. Efforts to alleviate adverse experiences for children may have long-term benefits for successful aging.
authors: Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, 725 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2J4. mhschafer@gmail.com
authors: Markus H
authors: MH
authors: Schafer
authors: Kenneth F
authors: KF
authors: Ferraro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*