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Life-history theory predicts that exposure to conditions typical of low socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood will calibrate development in ways that promote survival in harsh and unpredictable ecologies. Guided by this insight, the current research tested the hypothesis that low childhood SES will predict eating in the absence of energy need. Across three studies, we measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) participants' energy need and gave them the opportunity to eat provided snacks. Participants also reported their SES during childhood and their current SES. Results revealed that people who grew up in high-SES environments regulated their food intake on the basis of their immediate energy need; they ate more when their need was high than when their need was low. This relationship was not observed among people who grew up in low-SES environments. These individuals consumed comparably high amounts of food when their current energy need was high and when it was low. Childhood SES may have a lasting impact on food regulation.

Examining the impact of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) on prosocial and antisocial behaviors through positive self-beliefs, social emotions, and worry could be critical for intervention strategies. This study collected data, including sociodemographic characteristics, childhood socioeconomic status, the Oxford positive self, the Dunn Worry Questionnaire, social anxiety scale for social media users, prosocial and antisocial rule-breaking, and social–emotional expertise in eastern China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to scrutinize pathways from childhood SES to prosocial and antisocial behaviors through positive self-beliefs, social emotions, and worry. A total of 482 adolescents, mean age was 18.58 months (SD = 1.11). Childhood SES significantly influenced prosocial and antisocial behaviors through positive self-beliefs and worry. Childhood SES significantly influenced prosocial and antisocial behaviors through social emotions, positive self-beliefs and worry. Childhood SES significantly influenced prosocial and antisocial behaviors through social emotions and worry. Childhood SES significantly influenced prosocial and antisocial behaviors through worry. The findings highlight the need for intervention programs in upper- and middle-income countries (UMICs) that aim to improve prosocial behaviors by fostering childhood SES through positive self-beliefs, social emotions, and worry.

This study examined whether childhood sports club experiences mitigate the association between childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and later life functional disability among older adults using a population-based study in Japan in a moderation analysis ( n  = 16,095, average age = 73 years). Functional disability was assessed using a 13-item measure of higher-level functional ability; scores below the 10th percentile indicated functional disability. Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) at age 15 years was assessed according to time-appropriate standards. Childhood sports club experiences were assessed according to the extent of club/group sports experience during different age periods. For both sexes, lower childhood SES was associated with higher functional disability risk, and longer cumulative childhood sports club experience was associated with lower risk. Childhood sports club experiences modified the association between childhood SES and functional disability in men. Among men with low childhood SES, those with two or more periods of childhood sports club experience had substantially lower functional disability risk than those with no experience (adjusted odds ratio = 0.32, 95% confidence interval: 0.21–0.50). In women, childhood sports club experience did not modify the association with functional disability, but it modified the association with impaired intellectual activity, a subscale of higher-level functional ability.

Can socioeconomic status in childhood influence desire for health coverage in adulthood? We develop and test a model that yielded two sets of findings across five experiments. First, people who grew up poor were generally less interested in health coverage compared to those who grew up wealthy. This effect was independent of people’s current level of socioeconomic status, emerged most strongly when adults were experiencing financial threat, and was mediated by differences in willingness to take risks between people from poor versus wealthy childhoods. Second, we show that this effect reverses when people are provided with baserate information about disease. When information about the average likelihood of getting sick is made available, people who grew up poor were consistently more likely to seek health coverage than people who grew up wealthy. This effect was again strongest when people felt a sense of financial threat, and it was driven by people from poor versus wealthy childhoods differing in their perceptions of the likelihood of becoming sick. Overall, we show how, why, and when childhood socioeconomic status influences desire for health coverage.

Background Some studies have shown that childhood socioeconomic status (SES) can influence the development and progression of depression in adulthood. This study aimed to analyze the effects of childhood SES on depressive symptoms in individuals of middle-old age and examine the potential mediating role of life satisfaction based on national data in China. Methods Data were derived from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data. A total of 17,129 individuals who were aged 45 years and older were included. The dependent variable was depressive symptoms in middle-old age. Childhood SES was the independent variable, and life satisfaction was the mediator. This study controlled four factors: general demographic characteristics, adult SES, childhood adversity and health and living status. Pearson correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were performed, and the Baron and Kenny method was used to test the mediating role. Results The score of depressive symptoms among all participants was 7.88 ± 6.65. Gender, age, adult SES, childhood adversity and health and living status all affected the development of depression symptom in middle-aged and elderly individuals in China. After adjusting for all covariates, the higher the childhood SES, the lower the depressive symptom score ( β  = − 0.422, P  < 0.001). Life satisfaction had a partial mediating effect between childhood SES and depressive symptoms. Low childhood SES may improve life satisfaction ( β  = 0.051, P  < 0.001) and life satisfaction indirectly decreases depressive symptom scores ( β  = − 0.403, P  < 0.001). Conclusions Life satisfaction was a partial mediator between childhood SES and depressive symptoms in middle and old age. Improving life satisfaction may serve as an intervention to reduce the incidence of depression symptoms in the future.

A range of previous studies have suggested that early-life conditions (ELCs) are associated with various health problems throughout life in Western societies. The aim of this study was to investigate whether, and how, early-life conditions predicted the level and trajectory of cognitive function in middle- and old-aged Chinese adults. Data were obtained from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study which comprised 16,258 adults at baseline. Cognitive function was assessed using mental intactness and episodic memory and ELCs were measured by early parental death, childhood socioeconomic status (SES), food deprivation, and childhood health. Growth curve modeling was used to examine the trajectory of cognitive function (three waves in a 6-year period)with particular attention paid to the effects of ELCs on cognition. The results show that early maternal death is associated with the baseline cognitive level among middle- and old-aged Chinese adults (β range between −0.44 and −0.35, p < 0.05), but that this association is also largely attenuated by adulthood education. Higher childhood SES predicts an enhanced level of baseline cognition in both age groups (β range between 0.08 and 1.27, p < 0.001), but only protects against cognitive decline at baseline in middle-aged adults. Participants who were less healthy during childhood tended to have lower cognitive performance than those who had enjoyed good health (β range between −0.36 and −0.14, p < 0.05). The results of this study highlight the detrimental impact of deleterious ELCs on cognitive function throughout later life.

Background Childhood adverse experience has been linked with poor health outcomes across the life course. Nevertheless, whether such an association or direction could be projected to older people’s life remains still unclear and needs to generate more evidence, particularly in India. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the association of childhood socio-economic status and health with depressive symptoms amongst middle- aged and older adults in India. Methods The data for the study was drawn from national representative survey “Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI)” Wave I, 2017–2018 in order to conduct cross-sectional study. Multivariable regression analysis was used to examine the association of childhood socioeconomic status and health with depressive symptoms in the older population. Results Poor childhood health was significantly and positively associated with depressive symptoms (AoR: 1.56, CI: 1.19, 2.04). Likewise, respondents who were bedridden for a month during their childhood had high odds of developing depressive symptoms (AoR: 1.16 CI: 1.01, 1.34). In addition to this, the odds of having depressive symptoms increased significantly among the average (AoR: 1.28 CI: 1.08, 1.51) and poor childhood socioeconomic status group (AoR: 1.31 CI: 1.11, 1.55) as compared to the higher socioeconomic category. Conclusions Childhood socioeconomic status and health have a significant role in determining mental health in later life. Results suggest that considering childhood socioeconomic status and health is important while diagnosing depression in older population in order to identify the significant associated factors in early childhood and thus help in preventing depressive symptoms in later life.

Objectives The aim of this study was to (1) identify the influence of childhood socioeconomic status (CSES) on five chronic conditions: asthma, bronchitis, hypothyroid, migraine, and psychiatric disorders in later life; (2) determine the mediating role of childhood abuse (CA) in these associations, and (3) quantify recall bias due to respondent’s mental health in these associations. Methods 10,325 men and women from the Tromsø Study were followed for 13 years, and Poisson regression models were used. Results Low CSES was associated with a 16–23% higher risk of chronic conditions, and CA was associated with a 16–58% higher risk of chronic conditions ( p  < 0.05). A minor proportion of the association between CSES and CA (3.98%, p  < 0.05); CSES and chronic conditions (5.54–8.71%, p  < 0.05); and CA and chronic conditions (9.51–19.52%, p  < 0.05), were driven by recall bias due to the respondent’s mental health. CA mediated the association between CSES and chronic conditions (9.58–25.06%, p  < 0.05). Conclusions Low CSES and CA are associated with higher risk of chronic conditions in later life. A minor proportion of these associations are driven by recall bias.

Adolescence is a period of high levels of risk behavior. The present research aims to examine the influences of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) on risk behaviors in gain or loss domains among adolescents and the roles of threats in this effect. In experiment 1, a total of 107 adolescents (Mage = 14.80; SDage = 1.15) were asked to complete the childhood socioeconomic status scale before they took part in a risk behavior task under the gain and loss situation. A total of 149 adolescents (Mage = 14.24; SDage = 1.11) in experiment 2a and 139 adolescents (Mage = 13.88; SDage = 1.09) in experiment 2b completed the childhood socioeconomic status scale before they took part in a risk behavior task under the gain and loss situation under physiological threats and psychological threats, respectively. The results showed that high-childhood-SES adolescents tend to take more risks than low-childhood-SES adolescents in the gain domain, while low-childhood-SES adolescents tend to take more risks than high-childhood-SES adolescents in the loss domain. Threats amplified the impact of childhood socioeconomic status on adolescents’ risk behaviors in the gain and loss domains. When a physiological threat or psychological threat was primed, compared to the control group, in the gain situation, the extent to which high-childhood-SES adolescents showed greater risk seeking than low-childhood-SES adolescents became larger; in the loss domain, the extent to which low-childhood-SES adolescents showed greater risk seeking than high-childhood-SES adolescents became larger.

A recent, large-scale study among Chinese adolescents found that childhood socioeconomic status (CSES) was positively related to dispositional greed (i.e., the “luxury hypothesis”), instead of negatively related (i.e., the “scarcity hypothesis”; Liu et al., 2019c). This relationship was found for only-children, not for children with siblings. The generalizability of these findings may be limited, due to China’s one-child policy and socioeconomic policies which may have led to fewer differences in wealth. We replicated this research in two other cultural contexts that represent markedly different socioeconomic policies in order to test its generalizability: the Netherlands (Study 1, N  = 2367, 51.3% female, M age  = 54.06, SD  = 17.90), and the USA (Study 2, N  = 999, 50.1% female, M age  = 33.44, SD  = 12.28). Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test the association between CSES and greed. We mostly replicated the findings by Liu et al. (2019c): CSES was positively related to greed in both studies (“luxury hypothesis”) and there was a moderating effect of siblings in Study 1, but not in Study 2. Implications for theories on greed as well as future research on the association between CSES and greed are discussed.