Cumulative Disadvantage and Youth Well-Being: A Multi-domain Examination with Life Course Implications

Abstract

Purpose The accumulation of disadvantage has been shown to increase psychosocial stressors that impact life course well-being. This study tests for significant differences, based on disadvantage exposure, on youths’ emotional and physical health, as well as family supports, peer assets, and academic success, which hold potential for resilience and amelioration of negative health outcomes. Methods A 12 item cumulative disadvantage summed index derived from surveys of a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of urban high school seniors (n=9,658) was used to distinguish youth at low, moderate, and high levels. Results Findings supported hypothesized stepped patterns such that as multiple disadvantages accumulate, a concomitant decline is evident across the assessed outcome variables (except positive academic identity). Post-hoc tests indicated a pattern of groups being significantly different from one another. Discussion Overall, results lend support for an additive stress load associated with stacked disadvantage, with implications for continuing trends into adulthood as well as preventive interventions

Relationship to parents in adulthood with a background of out‐of‐home care in childhood

“…Andersson, , , ). There are also some non‐contradictory and useful additive aspects in life course theory, when the participants are adults (Elder Jr., , ; Mortimer & Shanahan, ; Andersson, ; Nurius, Prince, & Rocha, ; White & Wu, ). One of the key factors in life course theory— historical time and place —is important for the children in my research group.…”

Towards a Heuristic Research Model Linking Early Socioeconomic Adversity and Youth Cumulative Disease Risk: An Integrative Review

“…Previous research has documented the persistent association between early socioeconomic adversity (i.e., in childhood or early adolescence) and subsequent physical disease risk in later adolescence and young adulthood (Costello et al 2003;Wickrama et al 2015b), which leads to health inequalities in adulthood (e.g., Center on Social Determinants of Health 2008; Cohen et al 2010;Nurius et al 2015;Seeman et al 2010). Here, adolescence is conceptualized as 13-19 years, young adulthood is defined as 25-40 years, and the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, or emerging adulthood, is conceptualized as 19-25 years of age.…”

Childhood Social Disadvantage and Pubertal Timing: A National Birth Cohort From Australia

“…13 However, other aspects of childhood social context (including features of one's neighborhood such as availability of and access to services and facilities, neighborhood poverty, low education, and unemployment) may also be important indices. 14 We hypothesized that cumulative exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage would predict pubertal timing, with immediatefamily SES being more predictive than neighborhood disadvantage. Using national birth cohort data from Growing Up in Australia, several potentially confounding factors related to puberty (eg, parental puberty history, perinatal factors, adiposity, psychosocial stress, physical activity, and sleep duration) 15 could be taken into account.…”