Social engagement from childhood to middle age and the effect of childhood socio-economic status on middle age social engagement: results from the National Child Development study

ABSTRACTSocial engagement has powerful effects on wellbeing, but variation in individual engagement throughout the lifecourse is wide. The trajectories may differ by gender and be affected by socio-economic status (SES). However, long-term development of social engagement is little studied and the effect of childhood SES on later-life social engagement remains obscure. We aimed to describe the social engagement development from childhood to middle age by gender and test the effect of childhood SES on middle age social engagement. Data (N=16,440, 51.3% male) are drawn from the on-going National Child Development Study, following British babies born in 1958. Social engagement was measured by …