Parental separation at birth and depression in adulthood: a long-term follow-up of the Finnish Christmas Seal Home Children

Author:

VEIJOLA J.,MÄKI P.,JOUKAMAA M.,LÄÄRÄ E.,HAKKO H.,ISOHANNI M.

Abstract

Background. Early separation of a child from the mother has been considered a risk factor for later depression. We investigated the association between very early separation and depression in adulthood in a unique dataset.Method. The index cohort consisted of 3020 subjects born in 1945–1965 in Finland, isolated from their family due to tuberculosis in the family and placed in special nurseries, immediately after birth, for an average time of 7 months. Those subjects alive at 1 January, 1971 were identified. For every index subject two reference subjects were chosen, the matching criteria being sex, year of birth and place of birth. Data on depression were obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register by the end of year 1998.Results. In males, 4·2% of the index subjects and 2·6% (Adjusted Rate Ratio RR 1·7, 95% CI 1·3–2·3) of the reference subjects had been treated in hospital due to a depressive episode. In females the respective figures were 3·9% for index subjects and 3·6% (RR 1·1, 95% CI 0·8–1·5) for reference subjects.Conclusions. The index subjects had an elevated risk for hospital treated depression in adulthood. One explanation may be that the very early temporal separation from the mother at birth may have unfavourable effects on later psychological development. On the other hand, separation from the parents at birth was not found to be strongly associated with severe adulthood depression.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Subject

Psychiatry and Mental health,Applied Psychology

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3