title: The impact of the experience of childhood poverty on adult health-risk behaviors in Japan: a mediation analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The experience of childhood poverty has a long-lasting, adverse impact on physical health outcomes in adulthood. We examined the mediating effects of adult socioeconomic status (SES) and social support on the association between childhood poverty and adult health-risk behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional data collected from Japanese community residents (N = 3836) were used. A binary indicator of the experience of childhood poverty was constructed by utilizing retrospectively assessed standard of living at age 15 and a set of parental SES variables. The associations of childhood poverty with smoking, lack of exercise, poor dietary habits, and excessive drinking at the time of survey were examined by logistic regression analysis. A mediation analysis was conducted to estimate the magnitudes of the mediating effects of adult SES and social support on these associations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adult SES and social support together mediated 64.0, 29.4 and 30.6 % of the impacts of the experience of childhood poverty on smoking, lack of exercise, and poor dietary habits, respectively. Educational attainment had the largest mediating effect (58.2 %) on the impact of the experience of childhood poverty on smoking.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that interventions and policies for supporting children living in poverty should aim to enhance their future SES and provide better social support, as this might improve their overall health.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, St. Luke's International University, 3-8-5 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan. makiumeda@slcn.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.affiliation: Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo, 186-8603, Japan. oshio@ier.hit-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oshio
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Hokkaido University of Education-Hakodate, 1-2 Hachimanchou, Hakodate, Hokkaido, 040-8567, Japan. fujii.mayu@h.hokkyodai.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Mayu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujii
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires