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 1950-55. 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.