Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Cumulative effects of negative life events and family stress on children’s mental health: the Bergen Child Study

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Numerous studies have documented that lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with increased mental health problems in children. One proposed pathway for this association has been differential exposure to accumulated risk factors in children of lower SES. The aim of the current study was to investigate the socioeconomic distribution of exposure to negative life events and family stress and to examine the direct and interactive association between lower SES and exposure to life events and family stress in relation with mental health problems.

Methods

Using cross-sectional data from the second wave of the Bergen Child Study (conducted in 2006), the current study investigated the association between lower SES and exposure to negative life events, family life stressors, and mental health problems in a sample of 2043 Norwegian 11–13 years and their parents. Information about mental health was self-reported by the children using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, whereas information about SES and exposure to negative life events and family stressors were provided by their parents.

Results

The findings showed that lower SES was associated with more symptoms of emotional-, conduct-, hyperactivity/inattention-, and peer problems and that exposure to life events and family stress explained some of this association (10–29% of the total effects).

Conclusions

Low SES and higher prevalence of negative life events and family stressors were associated with more symptoms of mental health problems. Overall, the effect sizes were smaller than previous investigations (f 2s = 0.015–0.031), perhaps suggesting a buffering effect of the social safety net in place in Norway.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Reiss F (2013) Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: a systematic review. Soc Sci Med 90:24–31. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.04.026

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Corwyn RF (2002) Socioeconomic status and child development. Annu Rev Psychol 53:371–399

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Bøe T, Øverland S, Lundervold AJ, Hysing M (2011) Socioeconomic status and children’s mental health: results from the Bergen Child Study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47:1557–1566. doi:10.1007/s00127-011-0462-9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Quon EC, McGrath JJ (2014) Subjective socioeconomic status and adolescent health: A meta-analysis. Health Psychol 33:433–447. doi:10.1037/a0033716

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Starfield B, Riley AW, Witt WP, Robertson J (2002) Social class gradients in health during adolescence. J Epidemiol Community Health 56:354–361

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Dearing E (2008) Psychological Costs of Growing Up Poor. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1136:324–332. doi:10.1196/annals.1425.006

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Yeung WJ, Linver MR, Brooks-Gunn J (2002) How money matters for young children’s development: parental investment and family processes. Child Dev 73:1861–1879. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.t01-1-00511

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Gershoff ET, Aber JL, Raver CC, Lennon MC (2007) Income is not enough: incorporating material hardship into models of income associations with parenting and child development. Child Dev 78:70–95. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00986.x

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Bøe T, Sivertsen B, Heiervang E et al (2013) Socioeconomic status and child mental health: the role of parental emotional well-being and parenting practices. J Abnorm Child Psychol 42:705–715. doi:10.1007/s10802-013-9818-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Evans GW (2004) The environment of childhood poverty. Am Psychol 59:77–92. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.59.2.77

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. McLeod JD, Kessler RC (1990) Socioeconomic status differences in vulnerability to undesirable life events. J Health Soc Behav 31:162–172

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hatch SL, Dohrenwend BP (2007) Distribution of traumatic and other stressful life events by race/ethnicity, gender, SES and age: a review of the research. Am J Community Psychol 40:313–332. doi:10.1007/s10464-007-9134-z

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Atkinson L, Beitchman J, Gonzalez A et al (2015) Cumulative risk, cumulative outcome: a 20-year longitudinal study. PLoS One 10:e0127650. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0127650

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Appleyard K, Egeland B, Dulmen MHM, Alan Sroufe L (2005) When more is not better: the role of cumulative risk in child behavior outcomes. J Child psychol psychiatry 46:235–245. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00351.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Evans GW, Li D, Whipple SS (2013) Cumulative risk and child development. Psychol Bull 139:1342–1396. doi:10.1037/a0031808

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Evans GW, Kim P, Ting AH et al (2007) Cumulative risk, maternal responsiveness, and allostatic load among young adolescents. Dev Psychol 43:341–351. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.2.341

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Evans GW, Cassells RC (2014) Childhood poverty, cumulative risk exposure, and mental health in emerging adults. Clin Psychol Sci 2:287–296. doi:10.1177/2167702613501496

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Felner RD, Brand S, DuBois DL et al (1995) Socioeconomic disadvantage, proximal environmental experiences, and socioemotional and academic adjustment in early adolescence: investigation of a mediated effects model. Child Dev 66:774–792

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Bauman LJ, Bauman LJ, Silver EJ, Stein REK (2006) Cumulative social disadvantage and child health. Pediatrics 117:1321–1328. doi:10.1542/peds.2005-1647

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Goodman R, Ford T, Richards H et al (2000) The development and well-being assessment: description and initial validation of an integrated assessment of child and adolescent psychopathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 41:645–655

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Heiervang E, Goodman R (2011) Advantages and limitations of web-based surveys: evidence from a child mental health survey. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46:69–76. doi: 10.1007/s00127-009-0171-9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Goodman R (1997) The Strengths And Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 38:581–586. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Muris P, Meesters C (2003) The validity of attention deficit hyperactivity and hyperkinetic disorder symptom domains in nonclinical Dutch children. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 32:460–466. doi:10.1207/S15374424JCCP3203_14

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Richter J, Sagatun A, Heyerdahl S et al (2011) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)—self-report. An analysis of its structure in a multiethnic urban adolescent sample. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 52:1002–1011. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02372.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Harrel FE Jr (2017) rms: Regression Modeling Strategies. R package version 5.1-0

  26. R Core Team (2016) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

  27. Rosseel Y (2012) lavaan: an R package for structural equation modeling. J Stat Softw 48:1–36. doi:10.18637/jss.v048.i02

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Hayes AF (2009) Beyond Baron and Kenny: statistical mediation analysis in the new millennium. Commun Monogr 76:408–420. doi:10.1080/03637750903310360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Jalovaara M (2010) Socio-economic status and divorce in first marriages in Finland 1991-93. Popul Stud 55:119–133. doi:10.1080/00324720127685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Mogstad M, Langørgen A, Aaberge R (2007) Region-specific versus country-specific poverty lines in analysis of poverty. J Econ Inequal 5:115–122. doi:10.1007/s10888-006-9024-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Miech RA, Caspi A, Moffitt TE et al (1999) Low socioeconomic status and mental disorders: a longitudinal study of selection and causation during young adulthood. Am J Sociol 104:1096–1131. doi:10.1086/210137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Johnson JG, Cohen P, Dohrenwend BP et al (1999) A longitudinal investigation of social causation and social selection processes involved in the association between socioeconomic status and psychiatric disorders. J Abnorm Psychol 108:490–499

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Dohrenwend BP (2006) Inventorying stressful life events as risk factors for psychopathology: toward resolution of the problem of intracategory variability. Psychol Bull 132:477–495. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.477

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. UNICEF Innocenti Research Center (2012) Report card 10: Measuring child poverty. New league tables of child poverty in the world’s richest coutries. UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, Florence

    Google Scholar 

  35. Bøe T, Dearing E, Stormark KM et al (2017) Subjective economic status in adolescence: Determinants and associations with mental health in the Norwegian youth@hordaland study. Manuscript submitted for publication

  36. Demakakos P, Nazroo J, Breeze E, Marmot M (2008) Socioeconomic status and health: the role of subjective social status. Soc Sci Med 67:330–340. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.03.038

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Uni Research Health, Bergen, Mailbox 7810, 5020, Norway

    Tormod Bøe, Børge Sivertsen & Mari Hysing

  2. Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Anna Sofia Serlachius & Keith J. Petrie

  3. Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway

    Børge Sivertsen

  4. Department of Research and Innovation, Helse Fonna HF, Haugesund, Norway

    Børge Sivertsen

Authors
  1. Tormod Bøe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anna Sofia Serlachius
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Børge Sivertsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Keith J. Petrie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Mari Hysing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tormod Bøe.

Ethics declarations

Funding

The project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council (Grant Number 228189).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bøe, T., Serlachius, A.S., Sivertsen, B. et al. Cumulative effects of negative life events and family stress on children’s mental health: the Bergen Child Study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 53, 1–9 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1451-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1451-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation