Fuller-Thomson, Esme, Mehta, Rukshan, Sulman, Joanne · ISRN family medicine · 2013 · DOI
This study looked at whether having a parent who was unemployed for a long time during childhood is connected to developing ME/CFS later in life. Researchers surveyed over 7,000 Canadian women and found that those who experienced parental unemployment in childhood were about 3 times more likely to have ME/CFS as adults, even after accounting for other life challenges and health factors.
This study suggests that early-life economic stress and parental unemployment may be important environmental risk factors in ME/CFS development, pointing toward potential roles for childhood adversity and psychosocial stress in disease etiology. Understanding these associations could help identify vulnerable populations and inform prevention or early intervention strategies.
This study does not prove that parental unemployment causes ME/CFS; it only shows a statistical association. The cross-sectional design means data were collected at one time point, so temporal sequence cannot be established. Additionally, ME/CFS was self-reported rather than confirmed by medical diagnosis, which may introduce bias.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Fuller-Thomson, Esme, Mehta, Rukshan, & Sulman, Joanne (2013). Long-term parental unemployment in childhood and subsequent chronic fatigue syndrome.. ISRN family medicine. https://doi.org/10.5402/2013/978250
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-fuller-thomson-2013-long-term,
author = {Fuller-Thomson, Esme and Mehta, Rukshan and Sulman, Joanne},
title = {Long-term parental unemployment in childhood and subsequent chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {ISRN family medicine},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.5402/2013/978250},
note = {PubMed: 24959579},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/fuller-thomson-2013-long-term},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/fuller-thomson-2013-long-term
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