Do socially isolated children become socially isolated adults?
Do socially isolated children become socially isolated adults?
Key takeaways
Bibliography: Lay-Yee, R., Matthews, T., Moffitt, T., Poulton, R., Caspi, A., Milne, B., 2021. Do socially isolated children become socially isolated adults? Advances in Life Course Research 50, 100419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2021.100419
Authors:: Roy Lay-Yee, Timothy Matthews, Terrie Moffitt, Richie Poulton, Avshalom Caspi, Barry Milne
Tags: #Social-Isolation
Collections:: Social Theory
First-page: 1
Social isolation - the lack of social contacts in number and frequency – has been shown to have a negative impact on health and well-being. Using group-based trajectory analysis of longitudinal data from a New Zealand birth cohort, we created a typology of social isolation based on onset during the life course and persistence into adulthood. We then characterized each type according to risk factors related to family environment and child behavior that have been shown previously to be associated with social isolation. Based on fit statistics and distinctness of trajectories we considered the four-class model to be the most appropriate: (1) ‘never isolated’ (71.6 % of the cohort), (2) ‘adult only’ (10.1 %), (3) ‘child only’ (14.3 %), and (4) ‘persistent isolation’ (4.0 %). Family-environmental factors – i.e. having a teen-aged mother, having a single parent, frequent changes in residence, or maltreatment – tended to be associated with both child and adult onset and persistence of social isolation, whereas child-behavioral factors – i.e. self-control or internalizing symptoms – applied more to the child onset of social isolation. Sensitivity analyses using empirically defined groups – based on 15 % ‘cut-offs’ for isolation in childhood and adulthood - produced similar life-course groupings and similar associations. Our findings provide insights into the development of social isolation and demonstrate the changeability of social isolation across almost four decades of the life span. They also suggest family-based and child-based in terventions could address child onset and the persistence of social isolation into adulthood.
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Reading notes
Imported on 2024-05-07 20:01
- ocial isolation - the lack of social contacts in number and frequency – has been shown to have a negative impact on health and well-being. (p. 1)
- transient or prolonged in duration. Social isolation occurring in childhood may have continuing adverse effects as children develop into adults (Danese et al., 2009). Therefore, a life-course perspective is advantageous in accounting for both earlier and concurrent infuences, and indicating possible points for intervention to reduce risk or to build resilience (Hunt, 2005; Luthar, 2003). (p. 1)
- ocial relationships are central to the health and well-being of both individuals and the communities in which they live. An acute marker of social connectedness is the degree to which an individual is isolated, i.e. lacking contact with others (Cacioppo et al., 2011; de Jong Gierveld et al., 2016d). (p. 1)
- gitudinal investigations of social isolation from childhood into adulthood are rare (e.g. Caspi et al., 2006). S (p. 2)
- hild isolation was assessed by a collection of measures from ages 5–11 (Caspi et al., 2006; Danese et al., 2009). When a study member was 5, 7, 9, and 11 years old, their parent and teacher completed the Rutter Child Scale (Elander & Rutter, 1996), (p. 2)
- e used group-based trajectory modelling to classify individuals exhibiting similar social isolation trajectories over the life course from childhood to adulthood (Nagin & Odgers, 2010; van der Nest et al., 2020v). We assessed goodness of ft for between two and six groups using three criteria: (i) the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC); (ii) entropy (classifcation accuracy); and (iii) whether additional groups revealed novel trajectories (as opposed to splitting similar trajectories into two). (p. 3)
- Sensitivity analyses using ‘isolation’ groupings based on top 15 % cut-offs in childhood and adulthood produced similar fndings. (p. 4)