The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 194: 220-223. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.044271
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in adult life

Max Henderson, MRCPsych and Matthew Hotopf, MRCPsych

Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London

David A. Leon, PhD

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK

Correspondence: Max Henderson, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, Department of Psychological Medicine, Weston Education Centre, Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ, UK. Email: m.henderson{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

Declaration of interest

None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

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.


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