Stockholm university

Josephine JackischGuest Researcher

About me

Josephine works as a researcher at the Department of Public Health Sciences after having pursued her PhD at the Centre for Health Equity Studies Stockholm (CHESS, University of Stockholm/ Karolinska Institutet). Her dissertation entitled “Troubled childhoods cast long shadows: Studies of childhood adversity and premature mortality in a Swedish post-war birth cohort” was successfully defended in November 2022. Josephine is also affiliated with the International Max Planck Research School - Population, Health, and Data Sciences (IMPRS-PHDS). From February to May 2022, she was a guest researcher in the Independent Research Group Lifespan Inequalities in the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock Germany.

Josephine researches the role of childhood adversity in the development of inequality in premature mortality using longitudinal cohort data and advanced statistics. Before joining CHESS, Josephine has worked in the WHO Regional office for Europe in the field of health policy for prevention of noncommunicable diseases and healthy ageing across the life course, with a particular interest within healthy and age-friendly cities and their attempts to increase health equity.

Teaching

Josephine has been course manager for the In-practice seminar series within the Master's Programme in public health sciences during the years 2019-2021.

Research

Josephine is contributing research to the projects

Reproduction of inequality through linked lives (RELINK)

and

Drivers of inequalities among families involved with child welfare services (DRIVERS)

Research projects

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Intergenerational transmission of out-of-home care and the role of mental health problems

    2021. Viviane S. Straatmann (et al.). Social Science and Medicine 284

    Article

    Out-of-home care (OHC) experiences are associated with poor long-term outcomes throughout life. However, the continuity of OHC over generations is not fully explored, and the influence of mental health problems (MHP) and socioeconomic conditions on such transmission is still unclear. We therefore assessed the extent to which MHP affect the intergenerational transmissions of OHC as well as whether there are differential patterns depending on the socioeconomic conditions of the family of origin. We used a prospective data from the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study (SBC Multigen) on 11,333 cohort members (Generation 1; G1), their parents (Generation 0; G0), and 24,905 children (Generation 2; G2). Multivariate regressions and path models were used to examine the associations between OHC and MHP across generations; stratified analysis by occupational class in G0 was performed to explore potentially differential patterns. Our findings support the existence of an intergenerational transmission of OHC, particularly in the working class group (OR 4.70); MHP was only transmitted across generations in this group (OR 1.51). While the results indicated a stronger role of MHP among the middle/upper class (OR 5.59) compared to working class (OR 3.52) in part of the pathway (MHP G1-*OHC G2), this patter was not consistent throughout the whole pathway (e.g. OHC G1-*MHP G1). We conclude that there is a tendency for OHC and MHP experiences to continue across generations, particularly among families with more disadvantageous socioeconomic conditions. MHP seem to play an important role in the transmission of OHC irrespective of socioeconomic conditions.

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  • Cumulative Childhood Adversity and Long-Term Educational Outcomes in Individuals with Out-of-HomeCare Experience

    2021. Hilma Forsman, Josephine Jackisch. British Journal of Social Work 00, 1-20

    Article

    Previous research has demonstrated a graded relationship between cumulative childhood adversity and adverse later outcomes. Individuals with out-of-home care (OHC) experience constitute a population characterised by both childhood and educational disadvantages. Based on a fifty-year follow-up of a Stockholm cohort born in 1953, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations between cumulative childhood adversity and long-term educational outcomes in this group. The cumulative disadvantage perspective suggests that there would be a negative association, while the disadvantage saturation perspective implies that cumulative adversity would be less consequential for disadvantaged individuals. By means of multigroup path analysis, we furthermore asked whether this association may differ in relation to individuals with child welfare contact (CWC) and to the general population (GP). Adjusting for socioeconomic conditions and cognitive ability, cumulative childhood adversity had a negative influence on midlife educational attainment in the GP. However, it did not seem to influence the educational outcomes of neither OHC experienced individuals nor individuals with other types of CWC. The results of this study thus lend support to the disadvantage saturation perspective. Further studies are needed to explore this relationship.

    Read more about Cumulative Childhood Adversity and Long-Term Educational Outcomes in Individuals with Out-of-HomeCare Experience
  • Does time heal all wounds? Life course associations between child welfare involvement and mortality in prospective cohorts from Sweden and Britain

    2021. Josephine Jackisch, George B. Ploubidis, Dawid Gondek. SSM - Population Health 14

    Article

    Child welfare involvement reflects childhood adversity and is associated with increased adult mortality, but it remains unclear how this association changes over the life course. Drawing on the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study (Sweden) and the National Childhood Development Study (Great Britain) this study examines whether inequalities within these cohorts diverge or converge. Involvement with child welfare services (ICWS) is divided into two levels ('child welfare contact' and 'out-of-home care'). For each cohort, we quantify absolute health inequalities as differences in cumulative probabilities of death (18-58 years) and temporary life expectancy; and relative inequalities as hazard ratios in ten-year intervals and ratios of lifetime lost. Persistently, ICWS was associated with premature mortality. The strength of the association varied by age, sex and level of ICWS. Consistently across both countries, the most robust relationship was between out-of-home care and mortality, with statistically significant age-specific hazard ratios ranging between 1.8 and 3.4 for males and 1.8-2.1 for females. Child welfare contact that did not result in out-of-home placement showed less consistent results. Among females the mortality gap developed later compared to males. Estimates attenuate after controlling for family socioeconomic and other background variables but patterns remain intact. Our results show that absolute inequalities widen with increasing age, while relative inequalities might peak in early adulthood and then stabilize in midlife. The relative disadvantage among looked-after children in early adulthood is heightened by overall low rates of mortality at this age. Absolute inequality increases with age, highlighting the weight of the accumulation of disadvantage in mortality over time. The bulk of excess deaths that could be attributed to ICWS occurs from midlife onwards. Mechanisms that uphold the disadvantage after childhood experiences require further exploration. This study highlights that the association between out-of-home care and premature mortality seems to transcend welfare systems.

    Read more about Does time heal all wounds? Life course associations between child welfare involvement and mortality in prospective cohorts from Sweden and Britain

Show all publications by Josephine Jackisch at Stockholm University