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Socioeconomic inequalities in infant temperament

The Generation R Study

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

A low socioeconomic status (SES) has consistently been associated with behavioural problems during childhood. The studies of SES and behaviour in infants used temperament as a behavioural measure. However, these studies in younger children yielded inconsistent findings. Furthermore, they generally did not examine explanatory mechanisms underlying the association between SES and temperament. We investigated the association between SES and temperament in infancy.

Methods

The study was embedded in the Generation R study, a population-based cohort in The Netherlands. Maternal and paternal education, family income, and maternal occupational status were used as indicators of SES. At the age of 6 months, 4,055 mothers filled out six scales of the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised.

Results

Lower SES was associated with more difficult infant temperament as measured by five of the six temperament dimensions (e.g. Fear: unadjusted z-score difference between lowest and highest education: 0.57 (95%CI: 0.43, 0.71)). Only the direction of the association between SES and Sadness was reversed. The effect of SES on Distress to Limitations, Recovery from Distress, and Duration of Orienting scores was largely explained by family stress and maternal psychological well-being. These covariates could not explain the higher levels of Activity and Fear nor the lower Sadness scores of infants from low SES groups.

Conclusions

SES inequalities in temperament were already present in six months old infants and could partially be explained by family stress and maternal psychological well-being. The results imply that socioeconomic inequalities in mental health in adults may have their origin early in life.

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Abbreviations

SES:

Socioeconomic status

IBQ-R:

Infant behaviour questionnaire-revised

df:

degrees of freedom

CI:

confidence interval

SD:

standard deviation

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Acknowledgments

The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus MC—University Medical Centre Rotterdam in close collaboration with the Erasmus University Rotterdam, School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences; the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, Rotterdam; the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation, Rotterdam; and the Stichting Trombosedienst & Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the participating pregnant women and their partners, general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. The first phase of the Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from: Erasmus MC—University Medical Centre Rotterdam; Erasmus University Rotterdam; and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW). Funding: Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW ‘Geestkracht’ program, 10.000.1003).

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Correspondence to Henning Tiemeier.

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Jansen, P.W., Raat, H., Mackenbach, J.P. et al. Socioeconomic inequalities in infant temperament. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 44, 87–95 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0416-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0416-z

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