F. Vergunst, Canada
University of Montreal Public HealthPresenter of 3 Presentations
EPP0183 - Mental health and climate change – A developmental life course perspective
ABSTRACT
Introduction
Climate change is a major global public health challenge that will have wide ranging effects on human psychological health and wellbeing through the increased incidence of acute (e.g., storms, floods, wildfires), sub-acute (e.g., heat stress, droughts, lost agricultural yields) and long-term stressors (e.g., changes to landscapes and ecosystems). Children and adolescents are particularly at risk because of their rapidly developing brain, vulnerability to disease and limited capacity to avoid or adapt to climate change-related threats and impacts. They are also more likely to worry about climate change impacts than any other age group.
Objectives
To produce a new conceptual framework that describes climate change-related threats to youth mental health from a developmental life course perspective.
Methods
We critically review and synthesis literature documenting the pathways, processes and mechanisms linking climate change to increased mental health vulnerability.
Results
We show that climate change-related threats can additively and interactively increase psychopathology risk from conception onwards, that these effects are already occurring and that they constitute an important threat to mental health and therefore human capital worldwide. We then argue that birth cohort studies are uniquely positioned to examine climate change-related threats and that incorporating relevant measures into existing and planned birth cohorts is a matter of social justice and crucial long-term investment in mental health research.
Conclusions
Climate change is affecting the healthy psychological development of children and these risks are increasing worldwide. New theoretical and empirical work is urgently needed so that threats can be tracked and mitigated.
EPP0185 - Behaviour in Childhood is Associated with Distinct Patterns of Partnering in Adulthood
ABSTRACT
Introduction
Childhood behavioral problems are highly prevalent in school-aged children and are associated with poor long-term outcomes. Yet little is known about their association with patterns of partnering in adulthood.
Objectives
To (1) describe patterns of partnering from age 18-35 years in a large population-based sample, and (2) examine the association between childhood behavioural problems and adult partnering patterns.
Methods
Behavioural ratings were prospectively obtained from teachers when children (n=2960) were aged 10-12 years – for inattention, hyperactivity, aggression-opposition, anxiety and prosociality – and linked to their tax return records from age 18-35 years. We used group-based trajectory modelling to identify distinct trajectories of partnering (married or cohabitating) and multinomial regression models to examine the association between childhood behaviour and trajectory group membership.
Results
Five distinct trajectories of partnering were identified: early-partnered (n=420, 14.4%), mid-partnered (n=620, 21.3%), late-partnered (n=570, 19.2%), early-separated (n=460, 15.5%), and delayed-or-unpartnered (n=890, 30.0%). After adjustment for sex and family background, children rated as being anxious or inattentive were more likely to remain unpartnered from age 18 to 35 years, while those rated as aggressive-oppositional or inattentive were more likely to separate and return to unpartnered status. Prosocial behaviours were consistently associated with earlier and more sustained partnership. Participants in the early-separated and delayed-or-unpartnered trajectories were also more likely to have left high school without a diploma and to have lower earnings.
Conclusions
Childhood behavioural problems were associated with increased likelihood of being unpartnered and of partnership dissolution, which has implications for the psychological health and wellbeing of individuals and their families.
O026 - Childhood behaviours and adverse economic and social outcomes – Can we improve detection and prevention?
ABSTRACT
Introduction
Disruptive behaviours underpin the most prevalent and costly psychiatric disorders in youth including ADHD and conduct disorder. Yet the association between childhood behavioural problems and economic and social outcomes in adulthood are rarely examined in a population-based samples where early detection and prevention may be possible.
Objectives
To examine the association childhood behavioural problems and economic and social outcomes from age 18-35 years across three studies.
Methods
This study daws on 30-year Canadian birth cohort (n=3017) linked to government tax return records. Behavioural assessments – for inattention, hyperactivity, opposition, aggression, anxiety and prosociality – were prospectively obtained from teachers when children were aged 6-12 years. Regression models were used to link behavioural assessments in kindergarten (age 5/6 years) to earnings at age 33-35 years (Study 1) and to trajectories of welfare receipt (Study 2), while behaviour at age 10-12 years was linked to trajectories of partnering. Children’s IQ and family background were adjusted for.
Results
Inattention, aggression-opposition (males only) and low low-prosociality in kindergarten were associated with lower earnings at age 33-35 years (Study 1), inattention, aggression-opposition and low prosociality in kindergarten predicted following a chronic welfare receipt trajectory from age 18-35 (Study 2), and inattention, aggression-opposition, anxiety and low-prosociality at age 10-12 years were associated with increased likelihood of being unpartnered and with partnership dissolution from age 18-35 years (Study3).
Conclusions
Behavioural assessments made by schoolteachers can identify children at risk of adverse economic and social outcomes in adulthood. The implications of for early screening and prevention will be discussed.