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It is well known that experiences such as child maltreatment, mental health problems, and offending are often connected and can persist across generations. However, these issues are rarely studied together. At the NSfK seminar in Halden, Norway, ongoing research examining how these different forms of adversity are linked within families over time was presented.
The study draws on Swedish longitudinal register data from the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study (SBC Multigen), which provides a unique opportunity to follow families across several decades. The data include three generations: individuals born in 1953, their parents, and their children. Across these generations, the study examines patterns of offending, mental health problems, and placement in out-of-home care (family foster care or institutional care). In this context, placement in out-of-home care is used as an indicator of severe childhood adversity, including experiences related to abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction.
The aim of the research is to better understand how these problems are connected both within the same generation and across generations. For example, the study explores whether mental health problems in parents are linked to offending or out-of-home care placement among their children, and whether similar patterns can also be observed between grandparents and grandchildren.
The preliminary findings reveal a complex but important pattern of interconnected adversities. Strong links were found between out-of-home care placement and both offending and mental health problems within the same generation. The analyses also suggest that some forms of adversity continue across generations. In particular, mental health problems appear to play a central role in these patterns. The connections between grandparents and grandchildren were stronger than anticipated, especially regarding mental health problems and offending. This suggests that the effects of adversity may extend further across family generations than previously assumed. At the same time, the findings indicate that mental health may represent an important target for preventive intervention. Although the study cannot establish direct cause and effect, improving access to mental health support could help reduce several related problems at once, including offending and future child maltreatment.
Further analyses are still ongoing, and the full results will be presented in a future publication. Even so, the findings already highlight the importance of viewing mental health, offending, and child maltreatment as interconnected issues rather than separate social problems. A broader public health approach to prevention may therefore be an effective way to reduce the long-term transmission of adversity within families.
About the author
Lars Brännström is Professor of Criminology at Stockholm University. His work focuses on crime and victimization in vulnerable groups, such as individuals with experience of interventions from child welfare services.
Contact information: lars.brannstrom@criminology.su.se
Profile page: https://www.su.se/english/profiles/b/brann