Childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in adult life.
Henderson, Max;
Hotopf, Matthew;
Leon, David A;
(2009)
Childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in adult life.
The British journal of psychiatry, 194 (3).
pp. 220-223.
ISSN 0007-1250
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.044271
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BACKGROUND: Little is known as to whether childhood temperament is associated with long-term sickness absence in adult life. AIMS: To explore the associations between childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in middle age. METHOD: The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study is comprised of 12,150 children born in Aberdeen 1950-55. Teachers completed the Aberdeen-London Child Behaviour Scale (Rutter B) for all participants in 1964. Current employment status was ascertained for 7183 (63.7%) in 2001. RESULTS: Five and a half per cent of responders classified themselves as 'permanently sick or disabled' at follow-up. 'Often complains of aches and pains' (OR=6.75, 95% CI 1.28-35.5) and 'Often appears miserable or unhappy' (OR=3.81, 95% CI 1.01-14.4) were strongly associated with being permanently sick or disabled following adjustment for year of birth, gender, IQ and father's social class. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood temperament is strongly associated with sickness absence in middle age.