Pathways from childhood socioemotional characteristics and cognitive skills to midlife health behaviours

Bibliographic Data

ID21579704
AuthorsTiia Kekäläinen (0000-0003-0160-727X, University of Jyväskylä), Jenni Karvonen (0000-0003-3226-2366, University of Jyväskylä), Timo Törmäkangas (0000-0001-7268-5297, University of Jyväskylä), Lea Pulkkinen (0000-0002-4290-6690, University of Jyväskylä), Katja Kokko (0000-0002-8747-2080, University of Jyväskylä)
Year2023
Volume38
Issue12
Pages1683-1701
Publication date2023-12-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychology & Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0887-0446 • E-ISSN: 1476-8321
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08870446.2022.2041639
PMID35225111
OpenAlexW4214659467
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited68

Objective This longitudinal study investigated the pathways from childhood socioemotional characteristics and cognitive skills to health behaviours in midlife. Methods: Participants in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS) were followed from age 8 (n = 369) to age 50 (n = 271). Outcomes included physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and body mass index (BMI) assessed at ages 36, 42 and 50. Predictors were socioemotional characteristics (behavioural activity, negative emotionality, and well-controlled behaviour) and parents’ occupational status collected at age 8, cognitive skills (school success at age 14 and the highest education at age 27) and adulthood personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism and conscientiousness). Longitudinal path modelling was used for analyses. Results: Well-controlled behaviour and extraversion predicted physical activity in women. Behavioural activity predicted alcohol consumption in women and smoking in men. Negative emotionality was not directly connected to health behaviours. Adulthood neuroticism was associated with smoking in men and with alcohol-related problems in both men and women. There were some indirect paths from childhood socioemotional characteristics to midlife health behaviours through cognitive skills. None of the study variables predicted midlife BMI. Conclusions: Childhood socioemotional characteristics have some predictive value on midlife health behaviours, both directly and through cognitive skills.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2022.2041639

Big Five personality traits · Cognition · Conscientiousness · Developmental psychology · Extraversion and introversion · Longitudinal study · Neuroticism · Personality · Psychiatry · Socioemotional selectivity theory · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Clinical Psychology · Medicine · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Physical Activity and Health · Psychology · Social Psychology