Mortality of young adults in relation to single-parent family background -A prospective study of the Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort

Background: The relationship between family background and mortality of off spring was studied by using a prospectively collected, general population, birth cohort database (n=11,017), that is the Northern Finland 1966 birth c ohort which is linked with the national death register. Methods: A logistic regression analysis was performed in order to examine the association betw een family background and death of offspring (between ages 16 and 28 years) . Results: It was revealed that 117 subjects (90 males and 27 females) from the original birth cohort had died. The majority of the deaths were due to unnatural causes in both sexes (79%). After adjusting for confounders (psy chiatric diagnosis and parental social class), the results indicated that t he general mortality risk for males with a single-parent family background was significantly increased compared with males from a two-parent family ba ckground (odds ratio 1.8 and 95% confidence interval: 1.1-2.9). The risk of committing suicide was significantly increased among young adult males wit h a single-parent family background (OR 2.5 and 95% Cl: 1.1-5.8). Conclusio n: Our finding calls for health care professionals to provide more preventa tive mental health support for children and adolescents living in broken ho mes.