Childhood exposure to family instability and adult biomarkers of health

DSU’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science seminar

Join us for the launch of a new Biosocial seminar series organised by Dr Jenn Dowd, Deputy Director of the Demographic Science Unit and Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, and Dr. Emilie Courtin from LSE. The seminar series is the first step in building a new network for training and collaborations among biosocial researchers in the UK and Europe—broadly defined as all disciplines related to population health and interested social-biological interplay across the life course.

Children live apart from their biological parents for a variety of reasons, ranging from parental death, incarceration, divorce, and remarriage. A large literature demonstrates that such family instability is associated with worse developmental outcomes for children relative to peers who live consistently in two parent families. However, there is limited understanding of the adult physical health consequences of such childhood exposures. We investigate the relationship between childhood exposure to family instability and several biomarker measures of physical health in established adulthood using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. 

If you would like to join the seminars in person or online, please email LCDS.Office@demography.ox.ac.uk two days in advance.