Child-rearing Attitudes and Cardiovascular Risk Among Children: Moderating Influence of Parental Socioeconomic Status

Background: We examined associations of parental socioeconomic status (SES) and hostile maternal child-rearing attitudes with the insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) precursors in children.

Methods: The participants were 210 randomly selected healthy boys and girls who participated in the epidemiological Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study and who were 3, 6, and 9 years of age at the three study phases. Hostile maternal child-rearing attitudes were self-rated by the mothers. SES consisted of the years of education of the parents and family income. The IRS comprised serum insulin, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, and body mass index.

Results: Among boys, low parental SES and strict maternal discipline were associated with heightened somatic risk. Among girls, parental SES moderated the association between maternal child-rearing attitudes and somatic risk so that belonging to a high-SES family seemed to protect the girls against the adverse health effects of hostile mothering.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that the psychosocial environment is differentially related to girls' and boys' somatic risk. It is concluded that belonging to high social class may buffer against childhood stress, while belonging to low social class may enhance vulnerability to stressors in childhood.