Association Between Childhood Behaviors and Adult Employment Earnings in Canada

Vergunst, Francis; Tremblay, Richard E.; Nagin, Daniel S.; Algan, Yann; Beasley, Elizabeth; Park, Jungwee; Galèra, Cédric; Vitaro, Frank; Côté, Sylvana M.

doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1326

Cited by 39 publications

(60 citation statements)

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“…combining multiple behaviors across multiple years), and the behaviors included in the model. Taken together with other recent evidence (Jones et al, 2015;Vergunst et al, 2019b), our findings suggest that inattention, at least when assessed at a single time point in a Up to 3.2% missing data. In accordance with Statistics Canada's confidentiality (non-disclosure) rules, displayed counts are rounded to base 10 and percentages to one decimal point; earnings are rounded to the nearest hundred, and ranges represent the mean of the 5 lowest and 5 highest scores respectively and are therefore a conservative estimate of the upper limit.…”

Section: Psychological Medicinesupporting

confidence: 85%

“…combining multiple behaviors across multiple years), and the behaviors included in the model. Taken together with other recent evidence (Jones et al ., 2015; Vergunst et al ., 2019b), our findings suggest that inattention, at least when assessed at a single time point in kindergarten, is a more powerful predictor of future economic circumstances than are externalizing behaviors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…Previous work has linked early childhood inattention (Feinstein, 2000;Vergunst et al, 2019aVergunst et al, , 2019b, poor socioemotional skills (Jones et al, 2015), negative peer relations (Feinstein, 2000), and low prosocial behavior (Vergunst et al, 2019b) with lower earnings in early adulthood. We extend these Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But they are also difficult to modify. Recent work has therefore turned attention to other early characteristics, such as childhood disruptive behaviors (Vergunst et al, 2019a(Vergunst et al, , 2019b, self-control (Moffitt et al, 2011), and prosocial traits (Jones et al, 2015), which are arguably more malleable (Heckman, 2006;Heckman et al, 2006), and therefore relevant targets for intervention (Heckman et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inattention in boys from low-income backgrounds predicts welfare receipt: a 30-year prospective study

et al. 2019

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BackgroundChildhood disruptive behaviors are highly prevalent and associated with adverse long-term social and economic outcomes. Trajectories of welfare receipt in early adulthood and the association of childhood behaviors with high welfare receipt trajectories have not been examined.MethodsBoys (n = 1000) from low socioeconomic backgrounds were assessed by kindergarten teachers for inattention, hyperactivity, aggression, opposition, and prosociality, and prospectively followed up for 30 years. We used group-base trajectory modeling to estimate trajectories of welfare receipt from age 19–36 years using government tax return records, then examined the association between teacher-rated behaviors and trajectory group membership using mixed effects multinomial regression models.ResultsThree trajectories of welfare receipt were identified: low (70.8%), declining (19.9%), and chronic (9.3%). The mean annual personal employment earnings (US$) for the three groups at age 35/36 years was $36 500 (s.d. = $24 000), $15 600 (s.d. = $16 275), and $1700 (s.d. = $4800), respectively. Relative to the low welfare receipt group, a unit increase in inattention (mean = 2.64; s.d. = 2.32, range = 0–8) at age 6 was associated with an increased risk of being in the chronic group (relative risk ratio; RRR = 1.16, 95% CI 1.03–1.31) and in the declining group (RRR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.03–1.23), after adjustment for child IQ and family adversity, and independent of other behaviors. Family adversity was more strongly associated with trajectories of welfare receipt than any behavior.ConclusionsBoys from disadvantaged backgrounds exhibiting high inattention in kindergarten are at elevated risk of chronic welfare receipt during adulthood. Screening and support for inattentive behaviors beginning in kindergarten could have long-term social and economic benefits for individuals and society.

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Section: Psychological Medicinesupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inattention in boys from low-income backgrounds predicts welfare receipt: a 30-year prospective study

et al. 2019

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“…It certainly cannot be reduced to psychiatric disorder [ 28 ]. Some of these factors may affect both suicide risk factors and educational attainment in the general population: early psychiatric disorder [ 29 , 30 ], impulsiveness [ 31 ], childhood behavior [ 32 ], childhood adversity [ 33 ], and a low level of intelligence [ 34 ] are factors that decrease the chance of higher educational achievement and increase the risk of later psychiatric disorder and, thus, of suicide (see S1 Table for a detailed description).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic disparities in suicide: Causation or confounding?

Lorant¹,

Kapadia

Perelman

2021

PLoS ONE

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Background Despite an overall reduction in suicide, educational disparities in suicide have not decreased over the last decade. The mechanisms behind educational disparities in suicide, however, remain unclear: low educational status may increase the risk of suicide (“causation”) or low educational status and suicide may share confounders. This paper assesses whether educational disparities in suicide (EDS) are more likely to be due to causation. Method The DEMETRIQ study collected and harmonized register-based data on mortality follow-up from forty population censuses from twelve European populations. More than 102,000 suicides were registered over 392 million person-years. Three analyses were carried out. First, we applied an instrumental variable approach that exploits changes in the legislation on compulsory educational age to instrument educational status. Second, we analyzed EDS by age under the hypothesis that increasing EDS over the life cycle supports causation. Finally, we compared EDS in men and women under the assumption that greater EDS in women would support causation. Findings The instrumental variable analysis showed no evidence for causation between higher education and suicide, for men or women. The life-cycle analysis showed that the decrease of educational inequalities in suicide between the baseline 1991 period and the 2001 follow-up period was more pronounced and statistically significant in the first three younger age groups. The gender analysis indicated that EDS were systematic and greater in men than in women: the rate ratio of suicide for men with low level of education (RR = 2.51; 95%CI:2.44–2.58) was higher than the rate ratio in women (RR = 1.32; 95CI%:1.26–1.38). Interpretation Overall, there was little support for the causation hypothesis, suggesting that the association between education and suicide is confounded. Educational inequalities in suicide should be addressed in early life by early targeting of groups who struggle to complete their education and display higher risk of mental disorder or of mental health vulnerabilities.

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Association of Childhood Externalizing, Internalizing, and Comorbid Symptoms With Long-term Economic and Social Outcomes

et al. 2023

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ImportanceLittle is known about the long-term economic and social outcomes for children with longitudinally assessed comorbid externalizing and internalizing symptoms, especially compared with children with externalizing symptoms or internalizing symptoms only.ObjectiveTo examine the association between childhood trajectories of externalizing, internalizing, and comorbid symptoms and long-term economic and social outcomes.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsA 32-year prospective cohort study linked with administrative data was conducted in school-aged participants aged 6 to 12 years in the Québec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children (N = 3017) followed up from 1985 to 2017. Data analysis was conducted between August 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022.ExposuresTeacher-rated behavioral symptoms were used to categorize children from age 6 to 12 years into developmental profiles using group-based trajectory modeling.Main Outcomes and MeasuresMultivariable regression models were used to test the association between childhood symptom profile group and adult employment earnings, welfare receipt, intimate partnership status, and having children living in the household. Participant sex, IQ, and socioeconomic background were adjusted for.ResultsOf 3017 participants in this sample, 1594 (52.8%) were male and 1423 (47.2%) were female. Per confidentiality rules established by Statistics Canada, income variables were rounded to base 100 and count variables were rounded to base 10; the mean (SD) age was 37 (0.29) years at follow-up. Four symptom profiles were identified: no/low (n = 1369 [45.4%]), high externalizing (882 [29.2%]), high internalizing (354 [11.7%]), and comorbid (412 [13.7%]) symptoms. Compared with the no/low symptom profile, participants in the high externalizing–only profile earned $5904 (95% CI, −$7988 to −$3821) less per year and had 2.0 (95% CI, 1.58-2.53) times higher incidence of welfare receipt, while participants in the high internalizing group earned $8473 (95% CI, −$11 228 to −$5717) less per year, had a 2.07 (95% CI, 1.51-2.83) higher incidence of welfare receipt, and had a lower incidence of intimate partnership (incident rate ratio [IRR], 0.89; 95% CI, 0.80-0.99). Participants in the comorbid profile fared especially poorly: they earned $15 031 (95% CI, −$18 030 to −$12 031) less per year, had a 3.79 (95% CI, 2.75-5.23) times higher incidence of annual welfare receipt, and were less likely to have an intimate partner (IRR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.63-0.79) and children living in the household (IRR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.80-0.92). Estimated lost earnings over a 40-year working career were $140 515 for the high externalizing, $201 657 for the high internalizing, and $357 737 for the comorbid profiles.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this cohort study, children exhibiting sustained childhood high externalizing, high internalizing, or comorbid symptoms were at increased risk of poor economic and social outcomes into middle age. These findings suggest that children exhibiting comorbid problems were especially vulnerable and that early detection and support are indicated.

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Association Between Childhood Behaviors and Adult Employment Earnings in Canada

Cited by 39 publications

References 57 publications

Inattention in boys from low-income backgrounds predicts welfare receipt: a 30-year prospective study

Inattention in boys from low-income backgrounds predicts welfare receipt: a 30-year prospective study

Socioeconomic disparities in suicide: Causation or confounding?

Association of Childhood Externalizing, Internalizing, and Comorbid Symptoms With Long-term Economic and Social Outcomes

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