| The association between single-parent family background and physical morbidity, mortality, and criminal behaviour in adulthood | ||
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During the follow-up period (between 16 to 28 years of age) 68.9 % (n= 3 886) of all the male subject had been treated for at least one physical illness or complaint in a hospital ward. Of these males, 18.9 % (n= 733) had a single-parent family background. No significant differences in overall hospital-treated physical illnesses among males with single-parent families in childhood compared with males of two-parent family backgrounds were found (I: Table 1). However, males with single-parent family background had more commonly been treated for some diagnoses in the ICD-categories of “injury and poisoning“ (Table 6) and “other diseases of nervous system and sensory organs” (adj. OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0-2.0) than males with two-parent family backgrounds. The category of the other diseases of nervous system included various disorders of the eye and the ear and disorders of the nervous system such as migraine, neuropathy or disorders of cranial nerves.
The risk of fractures was about twice as high among males with a single-parent family background than in males with two-parent family background (Table 6). Other injuries were also slightly more common among males from single-parent families. The logistic regression analysis showed 2.2-fold risk of poisoning by psychotropic drugs among males with single-parent family background.
Table 6. Frequencies of hospital-treated injuries and poisoning among males with single- and two-parent family backgrounds (I: Table 1).
| Injuries and poisonings | Single-parent family (n=1047) | Two-parent family (n=4589) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| na | % | na | % | Adjusted OR*(95% CI) | |
Intracranial injuries | 28 | 2.7 | 80 | 1.7 | 1.5 (0.9-2.3) |
Poisoning by drugs | 22 | 2.1 | 49 | 1.1 | 1.5 (0.9-2.6) |
Poisoning by psychotropic drugs | 19 | 1.8 | 27 | 0.6 | 2.2 (1.2-4.2) |
Toxic effect of other substances | 7 | 0.7 | 11 | 0.2 | 2.2 (0.8-5.9) |
Fractures | 77 | 7.4 | 202 | 4.4 | 1.7 (1.3-2.3) |
Other | 180 | 17.2 | 711 | 15.5 | 1.1 (1.0-1.4) |
a Number of cohort members appearing in the FHDR. *Adjusted for psychiatric hospital diagnosis, maternal age and parental social class. | |||||
Of all cohort females, 57.6 % (n= 3 099) had been treated for at least one physical illness or complaint in a hospital ward (from 16 to 28 years of age). Females with single-parent family background were more commonly treated for any physical condition (normal deliveries and induced abortions excluded) than females from two-parent families of origin 61.3 % vs. 56.7 % (adj. OR 1.2, CI 1.0-1.3) (I: Table 1). They had also been more commonly treated for ICD-categories “pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium“ and “injury and poisoning“. In addition, in the subcategories of “vertebral column disorders“ (adj. OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.0-2.9), “gastrointestinal symptoms“ (adj. OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.8) and “other infections“ (adj. OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.0-1.5) females with single-parent family background were over-represented.
The risk of hospital-treated intracranial injuries was 2.0-fold (95% CI 1.0-3.8) among females with a single-parent family background compared to females with two-parent family background (I: Table 1). Other hospital-treated injuries (adj. OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-1.9) were also more common in females with a single-parent family background. Any statistically significant associations between single-parent family background and poisonings among females were not found.
During the follow-up time, 21.6 % of the females with single-parent family backgrounds had an induced abortion whereas 13.7 % of the females with two-parent family backgrounds had experienced an induced abortion in the same period of time (Table 7). Complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium as well as spontaneus abortions and normal deliveries were more common in females with single-parent family background compared with other females.
Table 7. Frequencies of pregnancy related hospital admissions among females with single- and two-parent family backgrounds (I: Table 1).
| Single-parent family (n=1040) | Two-parent family (n=4341) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium | na | % | na | % | Adjusted* OR (95% CI) |
Normal delivery | 475 | 45.7 | 1837 | 42.3 | 1.1 (1.0-1.3) |
Malposition and malpresentation of foetus | 37 | 3.6 | 131 | 3.0 | 1.1 (0.8-1.7) |
Spontaneous abortion | 49 | 4.7 | 143 | 3.3 | 1.4 (1.0-2.0) |
Complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium | 310 | 29.8 | 1137 | 26.2 | 1.1 (1.0-1.3) |
Induced abortion | 225 | 21.6 | 593 | 13.7 | 1.6 (1.4-1.9) |
a Number of cohort members appearing in FHDR. * Adjusted for psychiatric hospital diagnosis, maternal age and parental social class. | |||||