Childhood Aggression and the Transfer of Health Risk to Offspring in Disadvantaged Families

• In Event: 2-143 - Adversity, Victimization, and Aggression: Longitudinal Impact on Children’s Health and Psychosocial Adaptation

Integrative Statement

Aggressive behavior during childhood, particularly in the context of economic disadvantage, may lead to a sequence of negative psychosocial events, family violence, and health problems (e.g. substance abuse, lifestyle illnesses, cardio-vascular risk). When aggressive children become parents, continuing problematic behavior and a sequential trajectory of negative experiences may place their young offspring at risk for health and developmental problems. Such long-term negative outcomes of childhood aggression suggest that intergenerational transfer of risk may operate through adverse parenting, mental health, and social experiences. Particularly if they also come from poor, inner city neighborhoods they face added risks over and above their ongoing behavioral/social problems (i.e., aggression). Following a “cascade” theoretical model, parents’ aggressive behavior in childhood and its’ sequelae (e.g., early parenthood, low educational attainment, neighborhood disadvantage) were examined as predictors of childhood health risk to offspring during infancy and early childhood. In this longitudinal, intergenerational study we specifically examined: 1) whether aggressive behavior and neighborhood disadvantage in G1 parents’ childhood predicted poor health outcomes and lower quality health care for their G2 children, 20+ years later (Study 1); 2) whether parenting was a mediating factor that predicted positive outcomes for G2 despite risks (Study 2).

Participants (N=2365 parent-child dyads, Study 1; N=471, Study 2) were drawn from the Concordia Longitudinal Research Project: a 30-year longitudinal study of families from lower income neighborhoods in Montreal, begun in 1976 when the current parents were between 7 and 13 years old (G1). Peer nomination (aggression, behavior problems, social status) and census data (neighborhood disadvantage) measures from the G1’s childhoods, medical and educational records, and current neighborhood characteristics and parenting served as predictors. Outcomes included G2 health and service usage between ages of 1 and 6 years, drawn from comprehensive government health records.

Path models showed cumulative effects of G1 parents’ childhood aggression, neighborhood disadvantage, early parenthood, and adulthood disadvantage, with a negative impact on G2 young children’s early health problems (e.g., injuries; acute infections), and quality of health care (i.e., proportion of emergency services to total care). Outpatient and “well baby” medical visits were negatively predicted. Both direct and mediated effects of parents’ childhood experiences on offspring health were found; for example, parents’ aggressive behavior and disadvantage in childhood were partially mediated by a sequence of negative events including education, age at parenthood, and current disadvantage (e.g., see Figure 1). G1 education was a protective factor predicting better G2 health and quality of care. Furthermore, results from Study 2 revealed that G1 parenting mediated the effects of childhood aggression.

Parents’ childhood aggressive behavior and disadvantage may ultimately impact the health of their children years later, perpetuating intergenerational cycles of risk. Continuity of parents’ earlier aggressive behavior into less-than-optimal parenting styles, as well as a cascade of negative events and experiences into adulthood, present a cumulative threat to offspring, and reveal potential behavioral pathways. Increasing parental support and education, and the provision of prevention programs for disadvantaged youth may also have an inter-generational impact, potentially disrupting inter-generational cycles of health risk.

Authors

• Dale M. Stack, Concordia University
  Presenting Author

• Lisa A. Serbin, Concordia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathleen Kennedy-Turner, Concordia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel J. Dickson, Concordia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jane E. Ledingham, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alex E. Schwartzman, Concordia University
  Non-Presenting Author