Path modeling of children's life outcomes: the 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort

Aim Socioeconomic marginalization and inequalities in well-being and health in adults have been shown to be rooted in the early childhood experience. In particular, childhood poverty and parental income may influence children's well-being in multiple and diverse ways, as it is known that parental poverty impedes cognitive function. Subjects and methods The 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort includes a complete census of children born in a single year. The children were followed up from birth until end of 2012 using official registers maintained by the Finnish authorities. Cohort members who survived till the end of follow-up were included in the study (N = 58,818). Path modelling was used to analyze relations of theoretical constructs; parental adaption (PA), parental psychiatric involvement (PPI), family socioeconomic status (SES) as mediator, and child life outcomes (CLO) as outcome. Three models were made; a full model, a mediational model (where PA and PPI only have a direct effect on CLO through SES), and a non-mediational model with only direct effects of PA and PPI on CLO. A multiple group analysis was undertaken by cohort members' different educational outcomes. Results The best-fitting model suggested that as parental psychiatric involvement increases and parental adaptation failures increase, the socio-economic status of the family is compromised; in turn, poverty predicts increased adverse life outcomes for children. The restricted mediational model fits best on the data, and equally well for all educational outcomes. Childhood poverty remains the most significant determinant of early adult outcomes, regardless of school performance. Conclusion More policy effort needs to be enacted to reduce childhood poverty and its consequences in Finland.