Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, 3065Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Department of Sociology, 3065Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
J Aging Health. 2022 Oct;34(6-8):818-830. doi: 10.1177/08982643211066184. Epub 2021 Dec 28.
We draw from the life course and stress process frameworks to examine how experiencing disability in early life influences mental health in adulthood.
Data come from the Health and Retirement Study Cross-Wave Childhood Health and Family Aggregated Data file (2008-2018, = 15,289). Childhood disability status is a retrospective self-report of whether respondents were disabled for six months or more because of a health problem before the age of 16 ( = 581). We used age-based growth curve models to construct trajectories of depressive symptoms by childhood disability status.
Respondents who experienced childhood disability exhibit more depressive symptoms at age 50 compared to those who did not experience this stressor. However, there is no difference in the growth of depressive symptoms with age between these groups, suggesting maintained inequality over the late adulthood life course.
Findings suggest that childhood disability has long-term implications for life course mental health.
我们借鉴生命历程和压力过程框架,研究早年经历残疾如何影响成年后的心理健康。
数据来自健康与退休研究跨波儿童健康和家庭综合数据文件(2008-2018 年,n=15289)。儿童残疾状况是一种回顾性的自我报告,即受访者在 16 岁之前因健康问题而残疾六个月或更长时间(n=581)。我们使用基于年龄的增长曲线模型,根据儿童残疾状况构建抑郁症状轨迹。
与未经历这种压力源的人相比,经历过儿童残疾的受访者在 50 岁时表现出更多的抑郁症状。然而,这些组之间的抑郁症状随年龄的增长没有差异,这表明在成年后期的生命历程中仍然存在不平等。
研究结果表明,儿童残疾对生命历程心理健康具有长期影响。