Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1/2008

01-01-2008 | ORIGINAL PAPER

Temporary parental separation at birth and substance use disorder in adulthood

A long-term follow-up of the Finnish Christmas Seal Home Children

Authors: Juha Veijola, MD, PhD, Esa Läärä, MSc, Matti Joukamaa, MD, PhD, Matti Isohanni, MD, PhD, Helinä Hakko, PhD, Marianne Haapea, MSc, Sami Pirkola, MD, PhD, Pirjo Mäki, MD, PhD

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 1/2008

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Adversities in the early mother-infant relation pose a hypothetical risk for addiction. We studied the association between very early separation and later development of substance use disorder.

Method

A follow-up study was performed of subjects temporarily isolated from their family immediately after birth to adequate nursing homes in order to protect them against morbidity and mortality for tuberculosis. The average separation time was 7 months. The index cohort consisted of 3,020 subjects born in 1945–1965. For every index subject, two reference subjects were matched for sex, year of birth and place of birth. We were able to obtain the SES of the family of origin as recorded in 1971 from Statistics Finland. Finnish Hospital Discharge Register was used to identify subjects with substance use disorder arising from childhood to middle age, between January 1,1971 and December 31, 1998.

Results

The 28-year cumulative incidence of alcohol use disorders was 4.2% in the index cohort and 3.1% in the reference cohort (rate ratio, RR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1–1.8). The incidences of hospital-treated drug abuse or dependence were 0.6% and 0.2% (RR 2.5, 95% CI 1.2–5.1), respectively. The differences in socioeconomic status of the family of origin did not explain the differences found.

Conclusions

Substance use disorders were more prevalent among subjects temporarily separated at birth from their mothers because of tuberculosis in the family than in the reference cohort. While risks experienced during pregnancy, delivery and childhood are alternative explanations, this result suggests that very early temporal separation from the mother at birth may have had unfavourable but modest effects on later psychological development, including vulnerability to addiction.
Literature
1.
Tennant C (1988) Parental loss in childhood. Its effect in adult life. Arch Gen Psych 45:1045–1050
2.
Kendler KS, Sheth K, Gardner CO, Prescott CA (2002) Childhood parental loss and risk for first-onset of major depression and alcohol dependence: the time-decay of risk and sex differences. Psych Med 32:1187–1194CrossRef
3.
Koller KM, Williams WT (1974) Early parental deprivation and later behavioural outcomes: cluster analysis study of normal and abnormal groups. Aust NewZeal J Psych 8:89–96
4.
Tennant C, Bernardi E (1998) Childhood loss in alcoholics and narcotic addicts. Br J Addic 83:695–703CrossRef
5.
Kuh D, Maclean M (1990) Women’s childhood experience of parental separation and their subsequent health and socioeconomic status in adulthood. J Biosoc Sci 22:121–135PubMedCrossRef
6.
Estaugh V, Power C (1991) Family disruption in early life and drinking in young adulthood. Alcohol Alcohol 26:639–644PubMed
7.
Lewis CE, Bucholz KK (1991) Alcoholism, antisocial behavior and family history. Br J Addict 86:177–194PubMedCrossRef
8.
Isohanni M, Oja H, Moilanen I, Koiranen M (1994) Teenage alcohol drinking and non-standard family background. Soc Sci Med 38:1565–1574PubMedCrossRef
9.
Brook JS, Whiteman M, Cohen P, Shapiro J, Balka E (1995) Longitudinally predicting late adolescent and young adult drug use: childhood and adolescent precursors. J Am Acad Child Adoles Psychiatry 34:1230–1238CrossRef
10.
Kendler KS, Neale MC, Prescott CA, Kessler RC, Heath AC, Corey LA, Eaves LJ (1996) Childhood parental loss and alcoholism in women: a causal analysis using a twin-family design. Psychol Med 26:79–95PubMedCrossRef
11.
Furukawa T, Harai H, Hirai T, Fujihara S, Kitamura T, Takhashi T (1998) Childhood parental loss and alcohol dependence among Japanese men: a case-control study. Group for Longitudinal Affective Disorders Study (GLADS). Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 97:403–407PubMedCrossRef
12.
Hope S, Power C, Rodgers B (1998) The relationship between parental separation in childhood and problem drinking in adulthood. Addiction 93:505–515PubMedCrossRef
13.
Bowlby J (1978) Attachment and loss, vol 2, Separation. First published 1973. Reprinted in Penguin Books, Hazell Watson & Viney, Aylesbury, Bucks, Great Britain
14.
Lende DH, Smith EO (2002) Evolution meets biopsychosociality: an analysis of addictive behavior. Addiction 97:447– 458PubMedCrossRef
15.
Fonagy P, Target M (2005) Bridging the transmission gap: an end to an important mystery of attachment research? Attach Human Dev 7:333–343CrossRef
16.
Plotsky PM, Thrivikraman KV, Nemeroff CB, Caldji C, Sharma S, Meaney MJ (2005) Long-term consequences of neonatal rearing on central corticotropin-releasing factor systems in adult male rat offspring. Neuropsychopharmacology 30:2192–2204PubMedCrossRef
17.
Doyle K (1989) “Stamping” out tuberculouses: the story of Christmas Seals. American History Illustrated 24:66–68PubMed
18.
Anttolainen I (1972) Late prognosis of children born into tuberculous households. The effect of isolation and simultaneous BCG-vaccination. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica–Supplement 230:1–49PubMed
19.
Tamminen A (1982) Joulumerkkikotimme 1936–1973. (in Finnish) The Christmas seal homes in Finland 1936–1973. Tuberkuloosin vastustamisyhdistys, Helsinki
20.
Spence DPS, Hotchkiss J, Williams CSD, Davies PDO (1993) Tuberculosis and poverty. BMJ 307:759–61PubMed
21.
Wasz-Höckert O, Donner M (1962) A Follow-up of 103 Children Recovered from Tuberculous Meningitis. Acta Paediatr 51(Suppl 141):26–33
22.
Mäki P (2003) Parental separation at birth and maternal depressed mood in pregnancy—associations with schizophrenia and criminality in the offspring. Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, Medica D 740 (Available online: http://​www.​herkules.​oulu.​fi/​isbn9514270800, Accessed 23 August 2007)
23.
Mäki P, Veijola J, Joukamaa M, Läärä E, Hakko H, Jones PB, Isohanni M (2003) Maternal separation at birth and schizophrenia—a long-term follow-up of the Finnish Christmas Seal Home Children. Schizophrenia Res 60:13–19CrossRef
24.
Official statistics of Finland (1974) Population census. Occupational and social position, vol IX. Helsinki
25.
Clayton D, Hills M (1993) Statistical models in epidemiology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
26.
27.
R Development Core Team (2007) R: a language and environment for statistical computing (Version 2.5.0). R foundation for statistical computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3–900051-07-0, http://​www.​R-project.​org
28.
Black D (1998) Coping with loss: bereavement in childhood. Br Med J 316:931–933
29.
Bowlby J (1969) Attachment and loss, vol. 1, Attachment. Basic Books, New York
30.
Nemeroff CB (2004) Neurobiological consequences of childhood trauma. J Clin Psychiatry 65(Suppl 1):18–28PubMed
31.
Gordon H (2002) Early environmental stress and biological vulnerability to drug abuse. Psychoneuroendocrinology 27:115–126PubMedCrossRef
32.
Meaney MJ, Brake W, Gratton A (2002) Environmental regulation of the development of mesolimbic dopamine systems: a neurobiological mechanism for vulnerability to drug abuse? Psychoneuroendocrinology 27:127–138PubMedCrossRef
33.
Pirkola S, Isometsä E, Suvisaari J, Aro H, Joukamaa M, Koskinen S, Aromaa A, Lönnqvist J (2005) DSM-IV mood-, anxiety- and alcohol use disorders and their comorbidity in the Finnish general population. Results from the Health 2000 study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 40:1–10PubMedCrossRef
34.
Schuckit MA, Smith TL, Anthenelli R, Irwin M (1993) Clinical course of alcoholism in 636 male inpatients. Am J Psychiatry 150:786–792PubMed
35.
Sobell LC, Cunningham JA, Sobell MB (1996) Recovery from alcohol problems with and without treatment: prevalence in two population surveys. Am J Public Health 86:966–972PubMed
36.
Fuller RK, Hiller-Sturmhofel S (1999) Alcoholism treatment in the United States An overview. Alcohol Res Health 23:69–77PubMed
37.
Hakkarainen P (1994) Changing patterns, reshaping scenes: A brief overview of the epidemiology of non-medical drug-use in Finland. Psychiatria Fennica 25:196–204
38.
Poikolainen K (1983) Accuracy of hospital discharge data: five alcohol-related diseases. Drug Alcohol Depend 12:315–322PubMedCrossRef
39.
Keskimäki I, Aro S (1991) Accuracy of data on diagnoses, procedures and accidents in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. Int J Health Sci 2:15–21
40.
Isohanni M, Mäkikyrö T, Moring J, Räsänen P, Hakko H, Partanen U, Koiranen M, Jones P (1997) A comparison of clinical and research DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia in a Finnish national birth cohort. Clinical and research diagnoses of schizophrenia. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 32:303–308CrossRef
41.
Hemmingsson T, Lundberg I, Diderichsen F, Allebeck P (1998) Explanations of social class differences in alcoholism among young men. Soc Sci Med 47:1399–1405PubMedCrossRef
42.
Ackerman BP, Brown ED, Izard CE (2004) The relations between contextual risk, earned income, and the school adjustment of children from economically disadvantaged families. Dev Psychol 40:204–216PubMedCrossRef
43.
Figueroa-Damian R, Arredondo-Garcia JL (1998) Pregnancy and tuberculosis: influence of treatment on perinatal outcome. Am J Perinatol 15:303–306PubMedCrossRef
44.
Goodwin DW, Gabrielli WF, Penick EC, Nickel EJ, Chibber S, Knop J, Jensen P, Schulsinger F (1999) Breast-feeding and alcoholism: the trotter hypothesis. Am J Psychiatry 156:650–652PubMed
45.
Knop J, Penick EC, Jensen P, Nickel EJ, Gabrielli WF, Mednick SA, Schuulsinger F (2003) Risk factors that predicted problem drinking in Danish men at age thirty. J Stud Alcohol 64:745–755PubMed
46.
Aro HM, Palosaari UK (1992) Parental divorce, adolescense, and transition to young adulthood: a follow-up study. Am J Orthopsychiatry 62:421–429PubMedCrossRef
47.
Veijola J, Puukka P, Lehtinen V, Moring J, Lindholm T, Väisänen E (1998) Sex differences in the association between childhood experiences and adult depression. Psychol Med 28:21–27PubMedCrossRef
Metadata
Title
Temporary parental separation at birth and substance use disorder in adulthood
A long-term follow-up of the Finnish Christmas Seal Home Children
Authors
Juha Veijola, MD, PhD
Esa Läärä, MSc
Matti Joukamaa, MD, PhD
Matti Isohanni, MD, PhD
Helinä Hakko, PhD
Marianne Haapea, MSc
Sami Pirkola, MD, PhD
Pirjo Mäki, MD, PhD
Publication date
01-01-2008
Publisher
D. Steinkopff-Verlag
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 1/2008
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0268-y

Other articles of this Issue 1/2008

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1/2008 Go to the issue

ORIGINAL PAPER

The relationship between body mass index and mental health

ORIGINAL PAPER

Two models of job stress and depressive symptoms

ORIGINAL PAPER

Evidence for a relationship between the duration of untreated psychosis and the proportion of psychotic homicides prior to treatment

ORIGINAL PAPER

Familial clustering of suicidal behaviour and psychopathology in young suicide attempters

ORIGINAL PAPER

Alexithymia in the German general population

ORIGINAL PAPER

Influence of psychiatric morbidity and sociodemographic determinants on use of service in a catchment area in the city of São Paulo, Brazil*