Racial Disparities in Child Adversity in the U.S.

Slopen, Natalie; Shonkoff, Jack P.; Albert, Michelle A.; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Jacobs, Aryana; Stoltz, Rebecca; Williams, David R.

doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2015.06.013

Cited by 312 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…At the same time, Hispanic and African American children’s higher risk of facing multiple family and neighborhood adversities, (Slopen, Shonkoff, Albert, Yoshikawa, Jacobs, Stoltz, and Williams 2016) suggests that chronic stress exposure may be an important part of the development of health disparities during childhood. However, the weathering hypothesis, and its prediction of higher physiological stress in disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups, has yet to be applied to children.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood?

Schmeer

Tarrence

2018

J Health Soc Behav

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Building on the weathering hypothesis, we advance health disparities research by assessing racial/ethnic differences in low-grade inflammation, a marker of chronic stress exposure, in young children. Using nationally representative data from NHANES (N=6652) and logistic regression, we find an increased risk of low-grade inflammation among Hispanic and African American children compared to white children. The risk of inflammation appears to be stronger for Hispanic and African American children with foreign-born parents compared to children of the same race/ethnicity with U.S.-born parents. Low parental education and elevated child body mass index (BMI) work as partial mediators of these associations. Our findings suggest the need to understand the social and psychological challenges faced by Hispanic and African American children, particularly those with foreign-born parents, if we are to make further progress in reducing health disparities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood?

Schmeer

Tarrence

2018

J Health Soc Behav

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“…For example, children living in lower-SES households and from racial/ ethnic minorities are more likely to experience multiple adversities in childhood in addition to having a higher prevalence of cardiometabolic health outcomes. 6,8,11 The relation between sex and immigration status and childhood adversity and cardiometabolic outcomes is more complex and is discussed in detail later.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood and Adolescent Adversity and Cardiometabolic Outcomes: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Suglia¹,

Koenen²,

et al. 2018

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Adverse experiences in childhood and adolescence, defined as subjectively perceived threats to the safety or security of the child's bodily integrity, family, or social structures, are known to be associated with cardiometabolic outcomes over the life course into adulthood. This American Heart Association scientific statement reviews the scientific literature on the influence of childhood adversity on cardiometabolic outcomes that constitute the greatest public health burden in the United States, including obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease. This statement also conceptually outlines pathways linking adversity to cardiometabolic health, identifies evidence gaps, and provides suggestions for future research to inform practice and policy. We note that, despite a lack of objective agreement on what subjectively qualifies as exposure to childhood adversity and a dearth of prospective studies, substantial evidence documents an association between childhood adversity and cardiometabolic outcomes across the life course. Future studies that focus on mechanisms, resiliency, and vulnerability factors would further strengthen the evidence and provide much-needed information on targets for effective interventions. Given that childhood adversities affect cardiometabolic health and multiple health domains across the life course, interventions that ameliorate these initial upstream exposures may be more appropriate than interventions remediating downstream cardiovascular disease risk factor effects later in life.

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“…Low-SES Black men experience higher rates of adverse childhood experiences than do their peers from other racial and ethnic groups. 20 To the extent that Black men experience greater adversity, normative increases in rates of substance use during the young adult years represents a unique threat to their wellbeing. Additional research with multiracial samples is needed to discover whether differential exposure to childhood adversity accounts for observed differences in the consequences of substance use.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18 Studies indicate that that minority children are disproportionately exposed to childhood adversity compared to Caucasian youth. 19,20 Considerable research documents links between assessments of adverse childhood experiences and substance use onset and escalation among young people 18 as well as chronic substance use problems among adults. 21 However, the potential for childhood adversity to amplify the association between depressive symptoms and substance use in young Black men, has not been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of substance use on depressive symptoms among young adult black men: The sensitizing effect of early adversity

et al. 2017

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Background and Objectives Depressive symptoms have been identified as an important consequence of substance use. Both heavy drinking and marijuana use have acute and short-term effects on systems that regulate emotion, increasing the potential for substance use to induce problems with negative affect and irritability. We investigated the effects of alcohol and marijuana use on depressive symptoms among a sample of young Black men. We also tested the stress sensitization hypothesis that exposure to adverse childhood experiences would amplify the influence of substance use on men’s depressive symptoms. Methods Hypotheses were tested with 505 rural Black men who, at ages 19 to 22 years, provided data on their substance use, adverse childhood experiences, and depressive symptoms; they provided data again 18 months later. Results Substance use forecasted increases in depressive symptoms; cross-lagged analyses yielded no evidence for the inverse path, depressive symptoms increasing substance use. The impact of substance use on depressive symptoms was amplified among young Black men who were exposed to adverse childhood experiences. Substance use did not significantly predict depressive symptoms when adversity was low. Discussion and Conclusions Our findings suggest that, during young adulthood, substance use increases depressive symptoms among Black men who were exposed to childhood adversity. Because childhood adversity disproportionately affects Black men, these findings inform future cross-group research designed to investigate racial disparities in the consequences of substance use. Scientific Significance Depressive symptoms may be understood as an effect as well as a cause of substance use, particularly among vulnerable young Black men.

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Racial Disparities in Child Adversity in the U.S.

Cited by 312 publications

References 55 publications

Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood?

Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood?

Childhood and Adolescent Adversity and Cardiometabolic Outcomes: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

The influence of substance use on depressive symptoms among young adult black men: The sensitizing effect of early adversity

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