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Non-parental care in childhood and health up to 30 years later: ONS Longitudinal Study 1971-2011

Murray, E; Lacey, R; Maughan, B; Sacker, A; (2020) Non-parental care in childhood and health up to 30 years later: ONS Longitudinal Study 1971-2011. European Journal of Public Health , 30 (6) pp. 1121-1127. 10.1093/eurpub/ckaa113. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Children who spend time in non-parental care report worse health later in life on average, but less is known about differences by type of care. We examined whether self-rated health of adults who had been in non-parental care up to 30 years later varied by type of care. Methods: We used longitudinal data from the office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study. Participants were aged <18 and never-married at baseline of each census year from 1971 to 2001. Separately for each follow-up period (10, 20 and 30 years later), multi-level logistic regression was used to compare self-rated health outcomes by different care types. Results: For combined census years, sample sizes were 157 896 dependent children with 10 years of follow-up, 166 844 with 20 years of follow-up and 173 801 with 30 years of follow-up. For all follow-up cohorts, longitudinal study members who had been in care in childhood, had higher odds of rating their health as ‘not good’ vs. ‘good’; with highest odds for residential care. For example, 10-year follow-up odds ratios were 3.5 (95% confidence interval: 2.2–5.6) for residential care, 2.1 (1.7–2.5) for relative households and 2.6 (2.1–3.3) for non-relative households, compared with parental households after adjustment for childhood demographics. Associations were weakest for 10-year, and strongest for 20-year, follow-up. Additional adjustment for childhood social circumstances reduced, but did not eliminate, associations. Conclusion: Decades after children and young people are placed in care, they are still more likely to report worse health than children who grew up in a parental household.

Type: Article
Title: Non-parental care in childhood and health up to 30 years later: ONS Longitudinal Study 1971-2011
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaa113
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa113
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10100140
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