摘要：Objectives. This study examined the association between 2 dimensions of adults’ self-rated health and residential stability in childhood. Methods. Using data from the nationally representative survey Midlife in the United States, I assessed the impact of neighborhood and family stability on positive perceptions of global health and mental health in midlife. Results. Neighborhood stability in childhood is associated with a significant increase in the likelihood that an individual will rate his or her global health highly in midlife. Both neighborhood and family stability are positively associated with good mental health in midlife. Conclusions. These results demonstrate that both childhood family stability and adult social context are associated with health outcomes later in life. (Am J Public Health. 2003;93:1144–1148) Increasing evidence suggests that childhood environment can have a lasting impact on the health of individuals. This impact is frequently conceptualized in terms of health inequalities that begin in childhood and accumulate over the life course. 1 The social context of childhood may serve to initiate health trajectories that either protect health or increase vulnerability over the life course. 2 Although we know that social networks offer protective health benefits, no single type of social support is universally beneficial. 3 This inconsistency is attributable to the fact that both the support provided by social networks and the social networks themselves often change over time. 4 Childhood social networks are developed and maintained through multiple dimensions of residential stability, including living in the same neighborhood throughout childhood and having a stable family environment. Residential stability may increase children’s community-based “social capital”—their connections to social and institutional networks—by giving them the opportunity to develop strong social and community ties. Strong social networks in childhood may carry over to adulthood, indirectly influencing an adult’s ability to establish supportive social networks. For example, adults whose families were intact during childhood are more likely to marry and less likely to cohabit before marriage than adults who experienced family disruption in childhood. 5 In childhood, social networks are shaped by both residential and family stability. These 2 dimensions are frequently related: children in intact families experience lower levels of residential mobility than do those in single-parent families. 6 To date, much of the research on the relationship between childhood environment and health has emphasized the relationship between negative childhood experiences and risk behaviors later in life. Frequent geographic moves during childhood are associated with increased alcohol and drug use among adolescents. 7, 8 Family disruption and dissension are associated with an increased risk of poor health outcomes. 9– 11 A large body of research has examined the relationship between negative childhood experiences and mental health. 12– 16 No research has explicitly examined the association between residential change in childhood and both physical and mental health in adulthood. The present study addresses this gap by examining the extent to which childhood residential and family stability are associated with an individual’s perception of good health at midlife.
