IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hit/cisdps/529.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Childhood adversity and adulthood happiness: Evidence from Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Oshio, Takashi
  • 小塩, 隆士
  • オシオ, タカシ
  • Umeda, Maki
  • Kawakami, Norito

Abstract

In this study, we examined the impact of childhood interpersonal adversity on adulthood subjective well-being, with a focus on the mediating and moderating effects of social support and socioeconomic status (SES). We concentrated on parental maltreatment (abuse and neglect) and bullying in school as childhood adversity variables and on perceived happiness, life satisfaction, and self-rated health as adulthood subjective well-being measures. Our empirical analysis was based on micro data from a survey in municipalities in and around the Tokyo metropolitan area (N = 3,292). We obtained four key findings. First, the experience of childhood adversity had a substantial negative impact on adulthood subjective well-being. Second, social support and SES significantly mediated the impact of childhood adversity. Third, a large proportion of the impact of childhood interpersonal adversity was unexplained by social support and SES mediation effects. Fourth, no social support or SES variable moderated the impact of childhood interpersonal adversity. Hence, we can conclude that childhood interpersonal adversity affects adulthood subjective well-being in a relatively independent manner rather than being substantially mediated or moderated by social support or SES. Accordingly, social policies should aim at reducing incidents of childhood maltreatment and bullying in addition to helping people enhance levels of social support and SES in later life.

Suggested Citation

  • Oshio, Takashi & 小塩, 隆士 & オシオ, タカシ & Umeda, Maki & Kawakami, Norito, 2011. "Childhood adversity and adulthood happiness: Evidence from Japan," CIS Discussion paper series 529, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:cisdps:529
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/19458/cis_dp529.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert J. MacCulloch & Rafael Di Tella & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March.
    2. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-659, May.
    3. Takashi Oshio & Shinpei Sano & Miki Kobayashi, 2010. "Child Poverty as a Determinant of Life Outcomes: Evidence from Nationwide Surveys in Japan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 81-99, October.
    4. Lindsay M. Pitzer & Karen L. Fingerman, 2010. "Psychosocial Resources and Associations Between Childhood Physical Abuse and Adult Well-being," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 65(4), pages 425-433.
    5. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    6. Carneiro, Pedro & Heckman, James J., 2003. "Human Capital Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 821, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Korpi, Tomas, 1997. "Is utility related to employment status? Employment, unemployment, labor market policies and subjective well-being among Swedish youth," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 125-147, June.
    8. Liliana Winkelmann & Rainer Winkelmann, 1998. "Why Are the Unemployed So Unhappy?Evidence from Panel Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 1-15, February.
    9. Afifi, T.O. & Enns, M.W. & Cox, B.J. & Asmundson, G.J.G. & Stein, M.B. & Sareen, J., 2008. "Population attributable fractions of psychiatric disorders and suicide ideation and attempts associated with adverse childhood experiences," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(5), pages 946-952.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gökmen Arslan, 2018. "Psychological Maltreatment, Social Acceptance, Social Connectedness, and Subjective Well-Being in Adolescents," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 983-1001, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Takashi Oshio & Maki Umeda & Norito Kawakami, 2013. "Childhood Adversity and Adulthood Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 843-860, June.
    2. Farzin, Y. Hossein & Akao, Ken-Ichi, 2005. "Non-pecuniary Work Incentive and Labor Supply," Working Papers 190910, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    3. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2012. "Jobless, Friendless and Broke: What Happens to Different Areas of Life Before and After Unemployment?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 79(315), pages 557-575, July.
    4. Andreas Knabe & Steffen Rätzel & Ronnie Schöb & Joachim Weimann, 2010. "Dissatisfied with Life but Having a Good Day: Time-use and Well-being of the Unemployed," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(547), pages 867-889, September.
    5. Farzin, Y. Hossein & Akao, Ken-Ichi, 2005. "Non-pecuniary Value of Employment and Natural Resource Extinction," Working Papers 190911, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    6. Roberta Distante, 2013. "Subjective Well-Being, Income and Relative Concerns in the UK," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 81-105, August.
    7. Takashi Oshio & Miki Kobayashi, 2011. "Area-Level Income Inequality and Individual Happiness: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 633-649, August.
    8. Krause, Annabelle, 2013. "Don’t worry, be happy? Happiness and reemployment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-20.
    9. Stavrova, Olga & Schlösser, Thomas & Fetchenhauer, Detlef, 2011. "Are the unemployed equally unhappy all around the world? The role of the social norms to work and welfare state provision in 28 OECD countries," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 159-171, February.
    10. Carsten Ochsen & Heinz Welsch, 2011. "The social costs of unemployment: accounting for unemployment duration," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(27), pages 3999-4005.
    11. Farzin, Y.H., 2009. "The effect of non-pecuniary motivations on labor supply," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 1236-1259, November.
    12. Oshio, Takashi & Kobayashi, Miki, 2010. "Income inequality, perceived happiness, and self-rated health: Evidence from nationwide surveys in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(9), pages 1358-1366, May.
    13. Takashi Oshio & Shinpei Sano & Miki Kobayashi, 2010. "Child Poverty as a Determinant of Life Outcomes: Evidence from Nationwide Surveys in Japan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 81-99, October.
    14. Andrew E. Clark, 2018. "Four Decades of the Economics of Happiness: Where Next?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 245-269, June.
    15. Andrew E. Clark, 2006. "A Note on Unhappiness and Unemployment Duration," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 291-308.
    16. Andrew E. Clark & Ed Diener & Yannis Georgellis & Richard E. Lucas, 2008. "Lags And Leads in Life Satisfaction: a Test of the Baseline Hypothesis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(529), pages 222-243, June.
    17. Frijters, Paul & Beatton, Tony, 2012. "The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 525-542.
    18. Bruno S. Frey & Matthias Benz, 2004. "From Imperialism to Inspiration: A Survey of Economics and Psychology," Chapters, in: John B. Davis & Alain Marciano & Jochen Runde (ed.), The Elgar Companion To Economics and Philosophy, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Juncal Cuñado & Fernando Gracia, 2013. "Environment and Happiness: New Evidence for Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 549-567, July.
    20. Alois Stutzer & Rafael Lalive, 2004. "The Role of Social Work Norms in Job Searching and Subjective Well-Being," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 696-719, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Childhood adversity; adulthood subjective well-being; mediation analysis; Japan;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hit:cisdps:529. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Digital Resources Section, Hitotsubashi University Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cihitjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.