Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Divergent Trends in the Effects of Early Life Factors on Adult Health

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Population Research and Policy Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Life course theories have shaped social and health scientists’ understanding of the origins and pathways of health, aging, and mortality. However, few studies have examined how these origins might have changed across cohorts. This study investigates the impact of birth, childhood, and adolescence factors on adult health across birth cohorts born in the second half of the twentieth century in the United States. Data come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Family and Individual Files 1968–2013 and the Childbirth and Adoption History File 1985–2013. Multilevel growth models are used to capture the growth trajectories of two adult health outcomes: self-rated health and health summary index. We find the association between three pre-adulthood factors (birth weight, mother’s education, childhood family income-to-needs ratio) and health outcomes weakens in more recent cohorts, while the association strengthens for the other two early life factors (early-life disease index and parental smoking status before age 17). These findings demonstrate the complexity of the social-to-biological embodiment across the life course, and suggest that the effects of early-life factors on adult health can increase or decrease across cohorts due to macro social, economic, policy, technological, and medical changes. They also illuminate the long-term debate on the period and cohort effects in shaping the health trend, and suggest that the cohort effect is multidimensional and is weaker or stronger depending on the dimension of early life examined.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this research and the implications for our study.

  2. Mother’s identification and information were used for these links.

References

  • Adler, N. E., Boyce, T., Chesney, M. A., Cohen, S., Folkman, S., Kahn, R. L., et al. (1994). Socioeconomic status and health: The challenge of the gradient. American Psychologist, 49(1), 15–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, Z. J., Loft, S., Ketzel, M., Stage, M., Scheike, T., Hermansen, M. N., et al. (2008). Ambient air pollution triggers wheezing symptoms in infants. Thorax, 63(8), 7110–7716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbi, E., & Vaupel, J. W. (2005). Comment on “Inflammatory exposure and historical changes in human life-spans”. Science, 308(5729), 1743a.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, D. J. (1990). Fetal and infant origins of adult disease. BMJ, 301(6761), 1111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beggs, P. J., & Bambrick, H. J. (2005). Is the global rise of asthma an early impact on anthropogenic climate change? Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(8), 915–919.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Shlomo, Y., & Kuh, D. (2002). A life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology: Conceptual models, empirical challenges and interdisciplinary perspectives. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31(2), 285–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Shlomo, Y., Cooper, R., & Kuh, D. (2016). The last two decades of life course epidemiology, and its relevance for research on ageing. International Journal of Epidemiology, 45(4), 973–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blackwell, D. L., Hayward, M. D., & Crimmins, E. M. (2001). Does childhood health affect chronic morbidity in later life? Social Science and Medicine, 52(8), 1269–1284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, D., & Michalopoulos, C. (2001). How welfare and work policies affect employment and income: A synthesis of research. New York: MDRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Case, A., & Deaton, A. (2015). Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(49), 15078–15083.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Case, A., & Paxson, C. (2010). Causes and consequences of early-life health. Demography, 47, S65–S85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Case, A., Fertig, A., & Paxson, C. (2005). The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance. Journal of Health Economics, 24(2), 365–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2018). Smoking is down, but almost 38 million American adults still smoke. Retrieved November 9, 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/p0118-smoking-rates-declining.html.

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2019). Cotinine. Retrieved November 9, 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Cotinine_BiomonitoringSummary.html.

  • Charpin, D., & Gouitaa, M. (2001). Why is the prevalence of allergic diseases increasing? A critical assessment of some classical risk factors. Mediators of Inflammation, 10(6), 292–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chetty, R., Hendren, N., Kline, P., & Saez, E. (2014). Where is the land of opportunity? The geography of intergenerational mobility in the United States. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(4), 1553–1623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crimmins, E. M. (1981). The changing pattern of American mortality decline, 1940–77, and its implications for the future. Population and Development Review, 7(2), 229–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, D. A., Gennetian, L., & Huston, A. C. (2005). Child care assistance policies can affect the use of center-based care for children in low-income families. Applied Developmental Science., 9, 86–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curhan, G. C., Willett, W. C., Rimm, E. B., Spiegelman, D., Ascherio, A. L., & Stampfer, M. J. (1996). Birth weight and adult hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity in US men. Circulation, 94(12), 3246–3250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiFranza, J. R., Aligne, C. A., & Weitzman, M. (2004). Prenatal and postnatal environmental tobacco smoke exposure and children’s health. Pediatrics, 113(4 Supplement), 1007–1015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, S. H., Rossiter, L. M., Taylor, K. M., Holman, M. R., Zhang, L., Ding, Y. S., et al. (2017). Tobacco-specific nitrosamines in the tobacco and mainstream smoke of U.S. commercial cigarettes. Chemical Research in Toxicology., 30, 540–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elo, I. T., & Preston, S. H. (1992). Effects of early-life conditions on adult mortality: A review. Population Index, 58(2), 186–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finch, C. E., & Crimmins, E. M. (2004). Inflammatory exposure and historical changes in human life-spans. Science, 305(5691), 1736–1739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, J. M., Green, J. C., & Neidell, M. J. (2010). Long term effects of childhood asthma on adult health. Journal of Health Economics, 29, 377–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fogel, R. W., & Costa, D. L. (1997). A theory of technophysio evolution, with some implications for forecasting population, health care costs, and pension costs. Demography, 34(1), 49–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, V. A., Martin, L. G., Schoeni, R. F., & Cornman, J. C. (2008). Declines in late-life disability: The role of early- and mid-life factors. Social Science and Medicine, 66(7), 1588–1602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gage, T. B., Fang, F., O’neill, E., & Dirienzo, G. (2012). Maternal education, birth weight, and infant mortality in the United States. Demography, 50(2), 615–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gennetian, L. A., Crosby, D. A., Huston, A. C., & Lowe, E. D. (2004). Can child care assistance in welfare and employment programs support the employment of low-income families? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 23(4), 723–743.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glewwe, P. (1999). Why does mother’s schooling raise child health in developing countries? Evidence from Morocco. Journal of Human Resources, 34(1), 124–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goisis, A., Özcan, B., & Myrskylä, M. (2017). Decline in the negative association between low birth weight and cognitive ability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(1), 84–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldenberg, R. L., & Culhane, J. F. (2007). Low birth weight in the United States. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85(2), 584–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hack, M., Klein, N. K., & Taylor, H. G. (1995). Long-term developmental outcomes of low birth weight infants. Future of Children, 5(1), 176–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayward, M. D., & Gorman, B. K. (2004). The long arm of childhood: The influence of early-life social conditions of men’s mortality. Demography, 41(1), 87–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jemal, A., Ward, E., Hao, Y., & Thun, M. (2005). Trends in the leading causes of death in the United States, 1970–2002. Journal of the American Medical Association, 294(10), 1255–1259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R. C., & Schoeni, R. F. (2011). The influence of early-life events on human capital, health status, and labor market outcomes over the life course. B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 11(3), 2521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kannisto, V., Lauritsen, J., Thatcher, A. R., & Vaupel, J. W. (1994). Reductions in mortality at advanced ages: Several decades of evidence from 27 countries. Population & Development Review, 20(4), 793–810.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keithly, L., Ferris Wayne, G., Cullen, D. M., & Connolly, G. N. (2005). Industry research on the use and effects of levulinic acid: A case study in cigarette additives. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 7(5), 761–771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, Y., McMunn, A., Bartley, M., Cable, N., Sacker, A., & Montgomery, S. (2010). Do mum and dad get along? Family conflict and health and development in early childhood: Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 17(Suppl. 1), S308–S309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly-Irving, M., Mabile, L., Grosclaude, P., Lang, T., & Delpierre, C. (2013). The embodiment of adverse childhood experiences and cancer development: Potential biological mechanisms and pathways across the life course. International Journal of Public Health, 58(1), 3–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krieger, N. (2005). Embodiment: A conceptual glossary for epidemiology. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 59(5), 350–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lauderdale, D. S. (2001). Education and survival: Birth cohort, period, and age effects. Demography, 38(4), 551–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo, Y., & Waite, L. J. (2005). The impact of childhood and adult SES on physical, mental, and cognitive well-being in later life. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 60(2), 93–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, S. M. (2003). Cohort and life-course patterns in the relationship between education and health: A hierarchical approach. Demography, 40(2), 309–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masters, R. K., Hummer, R. A., & Powers, D. A. (2012). Educational differences in U.S. adult mortality: A cohort perspective. American Sociological Review, 77(4), 548–572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meara, E. R., Richards, S., & Cutler, D. M. (2008). The gap gets bigger: Changes in mortality and life expectancy, by education, 1981–2000. Health Affairs, 27(2), 350–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery, S. M., Bartley, M. J., & Wilkinson, R. G. (1997). Family conflict and slow growth. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 77(4), 326–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, P. A., Huston, A. C., Duncan, G. J., Crosby, D. A., & Bos, J. M. (2001). How welfare and work policies affect children: A synthesis of research. New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olshansky, S. J., Antonucci, T., Berkman, L., Binstock, R. H., Boersch-Supan, A., Cacioppo, J. T., et al. (2012). Differences in life expectancy due to race and educational differences are widening, and many may not catch up. Health Affairs, 31(8), 1803–1813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ouellette, N., Barbieri, M., & Wilmoth, J. R. (2014). Period-based mortality change: Turning points in trends since 1950. Population and Development Review, 40(1), 77–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pappas, G., Queen, S., Hadden, W., & Fisher, G. (1993). The increasing disparity in mortality between socioeconomic groups in the United States, 1960 and 1986. New England Journal of Medicine, 329(2), 103–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penn Nursing. (2018). Care of premature infants. Retrieved November 9, 2019, from https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/nurses-institutions-caring/care-of-premature-infants/.

  • Perera, F. P. (2017). Multiple threats to child health from fossil fuel combustion: Impacts of air pollution and climate change. Environmental Health Perspectives, 125(2), 141–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, F. P., Tang, D., Wang, S., Vishnevetsky, J., Zhang, B., Diaz, D., et al. (2012). Prenatal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure and child behavior at age 6–7 years. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(6), 921–926.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phibbs, C. S., Baker, L. C., Caughey, A. B., Danielsen, B., Schmitt, S. K., & Phibbs, R. H. (2007). Level and volume of neonatal intensive care and mortality in very-low-birth-weight infants. The New England Journal of Medicine, 356(21), 2165–2175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pirkle, J. L., Bernert, J. T., Caudill, S. P., Sosnoff, C. S., & Pechacek, T. F. (2006). Trends in the exposure of nonsmokers in the U.S. population to secondhand smoke: 1988–2002. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114(6), 853–858.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PSID (2013) Main Interview User Manual: Release 2013. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.

  • Rabinoff, M., Caskey, N., Rissling, A., & Park, C. (2007). Pharmacological and chemical effects of cigarette additives. American Journal of Public Health, 97(11), 1981–1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riley, M. W. (1973). Aging and cohort succession: Interpretations and misinterpretations. Public Opinion Quarterly, 37(1), 35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryder, N. B. (1965). The cohort as a concept in the study of social change. American Sociological Review, 30(6), 843–861.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saigal, S., Hoult, L. A., Streiner, D. L., Stoskopf, B. L., & Rosenbaum, P. L. (2000). School difficulties at adolescence in a regional cohort of children who were extremely low birth weight. Pediatrics, 105(2), 325–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, C. W. (1998). Childhood cancer: A growing problem. Environmental Health Perspectives, 106(1), A18–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T. P. (1984). Studying the impact of household economic and community variables on child mortality. Child Survival: Strategies for Research, 10, 215–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, S. J., Van Aardenne, J., Klimont, Z., Andres, R. J., Volke, A., & Delgado Arias, S. (2011). Anthropogenic sulfur dioxide emissions: 1850–2005. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11(3), 1101–1116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stepanov, I., Knezevich, A., Zhang, L., Watson, C. H., Hatsukami, D. K., & Hecht, S. S. (2011). Carcinogenic tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines in US cigarettes: Three decades of remarkable neglect by the tobacco industry. Tobacco Control, 21(1), 44–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, D., Strauss, J., & Henriques, M.-H. (1991). How does mother’s education affect child height? The Journal of Human Resources, 26(2), 183–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thun, M. J., Carter, B. D., Feskanich, D., Freedman, N. D., Prentice, R., Lopez, A. D., et al. (2013). 50-Year trends in smoking-related mortality in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(4), 351–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toelle, B. G., Peat, J. K., Salome, C. M., Mellis, C. M., & Woolcock, A. J. (1992). Toward a definition of asthma for epidemiology. The American Review of Respiratory Disease, 146(3), 633–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tzivian, L. (2011). Outdoor air pollution and asthma in children. Journal of Asthma, 48(5), 470–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valdez, R., Athens, M. A., Thompson, G. H., Bradshaw, B. S., & Stern, M. P. (1994). Birthweight and adult health outcomes in a biethnic population in the USA. Diabetologia, 37(6), 624–631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaupel, J. W., Wang, Z., Andreev, K. F., & Yashin, A. I. (1997). Population data at a glance. Odense: Odense University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y., & Lim, H. (2012). The global childhood obesity epidemic and the association between socio-economic status and childhood obesity. International Review of Psychiatry, 24(3), 176–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Y. (2008). Trends in U.S. adult chronic disease mortality, 1960–1999: Age, period, and cohort variations. Demography, 45(2), 387–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, H. (2014). Aging in the context of cohort evolution and mortality selection. Demography, 51(4), 1295–1317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, H., & George, L. K. (2012). Rising U.S. income inequality and the changing gradient of socioeconomic status on physical functioning and activity limitations, 1984–2007. Social Science and Medicine, 75(12), 2170–2182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, H., Yang, Y. C., & Land, K. C. (2016). Age-specific variation in adult mortality rates in developed countries. Population Research and Policy Review, 35(1), 49–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Scott Lynch, Ryan Masters, and Emma Zang for useful comments. This publication was supported by the Grant P2CHD058484 funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, R03AG053463 funded by National Institute on Aging, and R03SH000046 funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the Department of Health and Human Services.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, 106 Townsend Hall, 1885 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Hui Zheng

  2. University at Albany-SUNY, Albany, USA

    Jonathan Dirlam

  3. Ohio State University, Columbus, USA

    Paola Echave

Authors
  1. Hui Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonathan Dirlam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paola Echave
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hui Zheng.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Jonathan Dirlam and Paola Echave share equal authorship.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 8, 9 and 10.

Table 8 Cohort pattern in the association between mother’s education and adult ses outcomes: unstandardized regression coefficients from multilevel growth models
Full size table
Table 9 Cohort pattern in the association between childhood income-to-needs ratio and adult ses outcomes: unstandardized regression coefficients from multilevel growth models
Full size table
Table 10 Cohort pattern in the association between parental smoking before age 17 and health outcomes controlling for mother’s education and family income-to-needs ratio: unstandardized regression coefficients from multilevel growth models
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zheng, H., Dirlam, J. & Echave, P. Divergent Trends in the Effects of Early Life Factors on Adult Health. Popul Res Policy Rev 40, 1119–1148 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09602-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09602-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation