Citation

Hajat A, Nurius P, Song C. Child Abuse Negl. 2020; 102: e104392.

Affiliation

School of Social Work, University of Washington, 4101 15th Avenue NE Seattle, WA 98105-6250 USA. Electronic address: chsong79@uw.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104392

PMID

32032803

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACE), can give rise to long-term mental and physical health consequences as well as additional stressors later in the life course. This study aims to examine differing profiles of trajectories of adversity over the life course and investigate their association with socioeconomic and health outcomes.

METHODS: We used population representative data from the Washington State 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System BRFSS survey n = 7953. Six ACE items were paired with six Adverse Adulthood Experience AAE items in respondents' adulthood that parallel the ACE e.g. physical abuse in childhood and physical victimization in adulthood. We applied latent class analysis to identify distinct trajectories of adversity; then tested for differences across trajectories in terms of demographic, socioeconomic, and health measures.

RESULTS: Six latent classes were identified: individuals with high AAE: (1. Consistently High, 2. Substance Abuse and Incarceration, 3. Adult Interpersonal Victimization) and individuals with low AAE (4. Repeat Sexual Victimization, 5. High to Low, and 6. Consistently Low). The Consistently High group had the highest prevalence of ACE and AAE and fared poorly across wide ranging outcomes. Other groups displayed specific patterns of ACE and AAE exposures (including salient subgroups such as those with incarceration exposure) as well as differences in demographic characteristics, illustrating disparities.

CONCLUSIONS: Subgroup analyses such as this are complementary to population generalized findings. Understanding differences in life course patterns of adversity can shed light on interventions in earlier life and better target service provision to promote health and well-being.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Adverse childhood experiences; Health; Latent class analysis; Life course; Stress; Well-being