Table 2

Estimated contribution of differential exposure and susceptibility to stressful family conditions on the total effect of maternal education on child intelligence of 13-year-old children

Differential exposureDifferential susceptibilityTotal effect
Absolute95% CIRelativeAbsolute95% CIRelativeAbsolute95% CI
Financial stress
 Medium education versus high education−0.02−0.03 to 0.017%−0.02−0.06 to 0.015%−0.29−0.37 to 0.23
 Low education
 versus high education
−0.05−0.08 to 0.029%−0.01−0.03 to 0.021%−0.54−0.64 to 0.45
Social stress
 Medium education versus high education0.00−0.00 to 0.010%0.01−0.02 to 0.030%−0.29−0.36 to 0.23
 Low education
 versus high education
−0.01−0.02 to 0.001%−0.01−0.04 to 0.021%−0.53−0.62 to 0.43
Total stress
 Medium education versus high education−0.01−0.01 to 0.002%−0.02−0.06 to 0.015%−0.29−0.36 to 0.23
 Low education
 versus high education
−0.03−0.06 to 0.016%0.00−0.01 to 0.030%−0.53−0.62 to 0.43
  • Outcome and mediator variables were standardised. The total effect consists of four components: CDE, PIE, INTref and INTmed. Differential exposure is defined as the sum of the components PIE and INTmed; differential impact/susceptibility is defined as the sum of the components INTref and INTmed.

  • CDE, controlled direct effect; INTmed, mediated interaction; INTref, reference interaction; PIE, pure indirect effect.