Citation

Wheeler NJ, Daire AP, Barden SM, Carlson RG. Fam. Process 2018; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Educational Studies, College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Family Process Institute, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/famp.12392

PMID

30229892

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are interpersonal sources of distress negatively correlated with physical and mental health, as well as maladaptive intimate partner conflict strategies in adulthood. Economically vulnerable racial and ethnic minorities report the greatest disparities in exposure to ACE, as well as relationship distress and health. Yet, little is known about the connections between ACE, relationship distress, and health. We therefore tested a theoretical model for the mediating role of relationship distress to explain the ACE-health connection with a sample (N = 96) predominantly racial/ethnic minorities (87%) with low income. We applied partial least squares structural equation modeling with bootstrapping (N = 500). Relationship distress strengthened the predictive relationship between ACE and health, and accounted for 42% of the variance in health. The results provide preliminary support for relationship distress as a social determinant of health disparities with implications for interdisciplinary health intervention.

© 2018 Family Process Institute.

Language: en

Keywords

Adverse Childhood Experiences; Health; PLS-SEM; Relationship Distress; bajos recursos; distrés relacional; experiencias adversas de la infancia; minoría racial y étnica; modelo de ecuaciones estructurales utilizando regresión parcial por mínimos cuadrados; salud; 不良童年经历; 低收入; 健康; 关系困扰; 少数族裔