Profiles of Risk, Allostatic Load, and Mental Health in Low-Income Children

Abstract

Most health disparities originate in childhood and extend across the life span. However, studies on health disparities have predominantly focused on adults. This study evaluated the biological and psychosocial consequences of exposure to chronic adversity among 491 low-income children aged 8 to 12 years ( Mage = 9.73, SD = 1.0; 52.1% male; 68.2% Black and 21.2% Latinx; 267 maltreated and 224 nonmaltreated). Latent profile analyses revealed six distinct profiles of cumulative socioeconomic risk, allostatic load, and mental health functioning. Childhood maltreatment, emotion regulation, affect, and personality characteristics were differentially associated with these latent profiles. Findings indicate differential effects of chronic adversity on adaptation, consistent with resilience theory. These findings also offer evidence that signs of physiological dysregulation emerge at earlier ages in development and suggest there may be a window of opportunity in childhood for interventions to reduce the detrimental effects of chronic adversity on health outcomes in children.

A multisystem model for understanding stress and adaptation in ethnically and racially diverse youth

“…We need to expand research with younger populations to understand when exposure to chronic stress leads to the emergence of pathological physiological functioning and poor health trajectories. In a recent study investigating the biological and psychosocial consequences of exposure to cumulative socioeconomic (SES) risk in a lowincome sample of 491 ethnic and racial diverse children ages 8-12, we found subgroups of children who reported high exposure to SES risk and mental health problems and high SES risk and AL or both (high mental health problems and AL; Tyrell et al, 2023). The findings suggest that although the majority of children around this age are relatively healthy, evidence suggests that patterns of poor mental and physiological health are emerging among youths who are exposed to chronic social stressors.…”

Resilience in development: Pathways to multisystem integration

“…The biological processes that could account for such costs have been variously described as weathering (Geronimus, 1992), allostatic load (McEwen, 2020), and skin-deep resilience (Chen et al, this issue). The unique relevance of this phenomenon to Black youth growing up in the United States is underscored by the concept of John Henryism, recently tested in a study of allostatic load among a lowincome sample of children by Tyrell et al (2023).…”