Childhood Predictors of Health Limitations in Life Across 22 Countries: A Cross-National Analysis

Understanding childhood correlates of health problems is critical for developing upstream interventions and policies of holistic health, leading to flourishing later in life. An individual’s self-reported health limitations in adulthood are likely to vary by country, reflecting the influence of diverse sociocultural, economic, religious, and health contexts that characterize each nation. The purpose of this study was to examine the childhood predictors of health problems limiting age-appropriate activities across diverse countries. We used data from the Global Flourishing Study, an intended 5-year longitudinal study of human flourishing among 202,898 individuals across 22 countries within nationally representative sampling. Our exploratory analysis highlights key early-life experiences, personal attributes, and familial or social circumstances that are associated with self-reported health limitations in adulthood. Early predictors of self-reported health limitations in adulthood vary by country, reflecting the influence of diverse sociocultural, economic, religious, and health contexts that characterize each nation. This cross-national variation illuminates the role of broader societal factors in shaping the relationship between childhood experiences and health limitations as adults. We found differences in childhood predictors across the 22 countries with a few factors common among countries. Across all countries, childhood abuse, growing up an outsider, and self-rated health growing up were associated with a greater risk of having a health limitation as an adult.