The impact of the experience of childhood poverty on adult health-risk behaviors in Japan: a mediation analysis.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101147692 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1475-9276 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14759276 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Equity Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: [London] : BioMed Central, 2002-

Life Change Events* ; Risk-Taking*; Poverty/*psychology; Adolescent ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Japan ; Male ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires

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.

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Date Created: 20151210 Date Completed: 20160427 Latest Revision: 20181113

20250114

PMC4673773

10.1186/s12939-015-0278-4

26645322