Childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in adult life

Background Little is known as to whether childhood temperament is associated with long-term sickness absence in adult life. Aims To explore the associations between childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in middle age. Method The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study is comprised of 12 150 children born in Aberdeen 1955-55. Teachers completed the Aberdeen-London Child Behaviour Scale (Rutter B) for all participants in 1964. Current employment status was ascertained for 7183 (63.7%) in 2001. Results Five and a half per cent of responders classified themselves as 'permanently sick or disabled' at follow-up 'Often complains of aches and pains' (OR = 6.75, 95% CI 1.28-35.5) and 'Often appears miserable or unhappy' (OR=3.81, 95% CI 1.01-14.4) were strongly associated with being permanently sick or disabled following adjustment for year of birth, gender, IQ and father's social class. Conclusions Childhood temperament is strongly associated with sickness absence in middle age. Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.