Family instability in childhood affects language and memory in adulthood: results from the Pró-Saúde Study, Brazil

Araújo, Larissa Fortunato; Faerstein, Eduardo

doi:10.1590/1413-81232023283.13782022

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

FREE THEMES • Ciênc. saúde coletiva 28 (03) • Mar 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232023283.13782022 copy

Family instability in childhood affects language and memory in adulthood: results from the Pró-Saúde Study, Brazil

Instabilidade familiar na infância afeta a linguagem e memória na vida adulta: resultados do Estudo Pró-Saúde

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

The study aims to investigate associations between adverse childhood psychosocial exposures and declarative memory, language, and executive function in adults with secondary schooling or more and without dementia. In 361 participants from the Pró-Saúde Study, we estimated associations between maternal educational attainment, principal source of the family´s income, food insecurity, and childhood family structure and performance in learning, word recall, and semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tests using multiple linear regression models. Individuals whose mother was the family breadwinner (mean difference: -1.97, 95%CI: -3.27; -0.72) and head-of-household (mean difference: -1.62, 95%CI: -2.89; -0.35) or who lived with a non-parental caregiver or in institutions in childhood (mean difference: -2.19, 95%CI: -4.29; -0.09) showed a reduction in the mean number of words in language and memory in adulthood. The results provide further evidence of the effect of adverse exposures in childhood. Without effective interventions, such exposures are likely to have far-reaching impacts on cognition.

Key words:
Pró-Saúde Study; Cognitive function; Childhood adversities

Variable		Number of observations (%)
Sex
	Male	181 (50.1)
	Female	180 (49.9)
Age (years)
	<45	84 (23.3)
	45-54	193 (53.4)
	55-64	84 (23.3)
Educational attainment
	University or greater	229 (63.5)
	Secondary schooling	132 (36.5)
Maternal educational attainment
	Secondary schooling or greater	119 (33.0)
	Primary schooling	95 (26.3)
	Incomplete primary schooling or less	147 (40.7)
Main source of family income in childhood
	Father	296 (82.0)
	Mother	54 (15.0)
	Other	11 (3.0)
Childhood family structure
	Two-parent	283 (78.4)
	Maternal	52 (14.4)
	Paternal	7 (1.9)
	Other caregiver or lived in institution	19 (5.3)
Childhood food insecurity
	No	175 (48.5)
	Yes	186 (51.5)
Learning and word recall (words), mean (SD)		29.0 (4.8)
Semantic verbal fluency (words), mean (SD)		20.7 (5.7)
Phonemic verbal fluency (words), mean (SD)		13.7 (4.4)

Exposures		Mean number of words (SD)
Exposures		Learning and word recall tests	Semantic verbal fluency test	Phonemic verbal fluency test
Maternal educational attainment
	Secondary schooling or greater	29.3 (4.9)	22.0 (5.6)	14.0 (3.7)
	Primary schooling	29.2 (4.7)	20.8 (6.1)	13.9 (4.9)
	Incomplete primary schooling or less	28.6 (4.7)	19.7 (5.2)**	13.4 (4.5)
Main source of family income in childhood
	Father	28.9 (4.8)	20.9 (5.7)	14.1 (4.3)
	Mother	29.4 (4.7)	19.6 (5.8)	11.8 (4.6)**
	Other	27.7 (5.1)	20.6 (4.1)	14.0 (2.7)
Childhood family structure
	Two-parent	29.2 (4.7)	28.9 (5.5)	14.1 (4.2)
	Maternal	29.0 (4.4)	20.7 (6.0)	12.3 (4.7)*
	Paternal	25.5 (4.7)	16.5 (4.0)	11.7 (5.7)
	Other caregiver or lived in institution	26.4 (6.3)	19.8 (7.4)	13.4 (4.6)
Childhood food insecurity
	No	29.7 (4.7)	21.6 (5.4)	13.7 (3.9)
	Yes	28.3 (4.7)**	19.9 (5.8)**	13.7 (4.8)

		Learning and word recall			Semantic verbal fluency		Phonemic verbal fluency
		Model 1 Mean difference (95%CI)	Model 2 Mean difference (95%CI)	Model 1 Mean difference (95%CI)	Model 2 Mean difference (95%CI)	Model 1 Mean difference (95%CI)	Model 2 Mean difference (95%CI)
Maternal educational attainment
	Secondary schooling or greater	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
	Primary schooling	-0.10 (-1.40; 1.19)	0.69 (-0.53; 1.92)	-1.27 (-2.79; 0.24)	-0.52 (-2.00; 0.95)	-0.15 (-1.34; 1.94)	0.43 (-0.74; 1.61)
	Incomplete primary schooling or less	-0.73 (-1.89; -0.43)	0.14 (-0.98; 1.27)	-2.38 (-3.74; -1.01)	-1.32 (-2.67; 0.03)	-0.57 (-1.64; 0.49)	0.16 (-0.90; 1.24)
Main source of family income in childhood
	Father	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
	Mother	0.44 (-0.95; 1.84)	0.65 (-0.66; 1.97)	-1.36 (-3.02; 0.29)	-0.74 (-2.34; 0.84)	-2.28 (-3.54; -1.01)	-1.97 (-3.21; -0.72)
	Other	-1.25 (-4.16; 1.65)	-1.44 (-4.17; 1.27)	-0.35 (-3.79; 3.08)	0.16 (-3.12; 3.45)	-0.04 (-2.67; 2.58)	0.15 (-2.41; 2.72)
Childhood family structure
	Two-parent	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
	Maternal	-0.22 (-1.63; 1.19)	-0.21 (-1.54; 1.12)	-0.17 (-1.85; 1.49)	0.18 (-1.41; 1.78)	-1.83 (-3.13; -0.53)	-1.62 (-2.89; -0.35)
	Paternal	-3.69 (-7.27; -0.10)	-1.62 (-5.05; 1.81)	-4.37 (-8.62; -0.12)	-2.39 (-6.50; 1.71)	-2.42 (-5.71; 0.86)	-0.74 (-4.00; 2.51)
	Other caregiver or lived in institution	-2.78 (-5.01; -0.56)	-2.19 (-4.29; -0.09)	-1.10 (-3.75; 1.54)	-0.14 (-2.68; 2.39)	-0.72 (-2.75; 1.31)	-0.14 (-2.13; 1.84)
Childhood food insecurity
	No	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
	Yes	-1.35 (-2.34; -0.36)	-0.80 (-1.74; 0.13)	-1.69 (-2.86; -0.52)	-1.08 (-2.21; 0.04)	-0.00 (-0.91; 0.91)	0.39 (-0.49; 1.29)

ABRASCO - Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva Av. Brasil, 4036 - sala 700 Manguinhos, 21040-361 Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil, Tel.: +55 21 3882-9153 / 3882-9151 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: cienciasaudecoletiva@fiocruz.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Chief editors:

Romeu Gomes, Antônio Augusto Moura da Silva