Childhood adversity may even out otherwise observable gender differences

ICON members Lisa Bornscheuer, Karl Gauffin, and Ylva B Almquist have published a study on gendered patterns of disadvantage in adulthood among individuals with experiences of out-of-home care in childhood.

About the study

Childhood adversity places individuals in a vulnerable position, resulting in potentially enduring disadvantage across life domains like health and work. Studying the manifestation of this disadvantage is crucial for understanding which resources society can provide to mitigate or prevent it, which makes this subject a fundamental public health concern. This study investigated whether disadvantage patterns after childhood adversity differ by gender and educational level, using out-of-home care as proxy for early adversity.

Register data from a 1953 Swedish birth cohort were used. Distinct profiles of socioeconomic and health disadvantage in individuals with out-of-home care experience were identified using group-based multi-trajectory modelling. Multinomial logistic regression was then used to determine whether gender and education, individually or in interaction with each other, predict group membership.

In the population without history of out-of-home care, adulthood disadvantage was highly gendered, with women being more likely to experience disadvantage related to unemployment and poor health, while criminality and substance misuse was more common among men. History of out-of-home care was associated with a general increase in adulthood disadvantage, but the gender differences were largely absent. Women in this group were however less likely than men to experience disadvantage across multiple life domains (complex disadvantage OR = 0.56, p = 0.046; unemployment-related disadvantage OR = 0.51, p = 0.005). Higher level of education was associated with reduced likelihood of membership in the group marked by disabling health disadvantage (OR = 0.55, p = 0.002) and complex disadvantage (OR = 0.37, p = 0.001). An interaction term between gender and education was not significant.

In sum, adulthood disadvantage was more common in the group with history of out-of-home care. The gender differences in disadvantage present in the full cohort were largely attenuated among individuals with out-of-home care history.

Highlights

Using administrative data on outcomes across multiple life domains can provide rich descriptions of adult experiences after childhood adversity.

The experience of OHC – which we here assume to reflect an underlying experience of CA – levels down the playing field, and evens out parts of otherwise observable gender differences.

In the face of adversity, men and women may be more alike in terms of outcome trajectories than would be expected in the absence of it.

Publication details

Bornscheuer, L., Landstedt, E., Gauffin, K., & Almquist, Y. B. (2025). Adulthood trajectories of resilience and vulnerability: exploring gender differences in disadvantage after experience of out-of-home care. BMC Public Health, 25, 417.

Read more: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21531-y

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