Trajectories of adolescent stressful life events and young adults’ socioeconomic and relational outcomes: Weight and depressive symptoms as mediators

Little is known about how biological and psychological consequences of adolescent stressful life events (SLEs) are jointly associated with socioeconomic and relational outcomes in adulthood. To address this gap, the present study involved testing a model based on the life course perspective that pos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of developmental psychology 2022-06, Vol.40 (2), p.334-351
Main Authors: Wickrama, K.A.S., Klopack, Eric T., Sutton, Tara E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adolescence
Adolescent
Adolescents
Adult
Adversity
BMI
Body mass index
Body weight
Depression - psychology
depressive symptoms
Ethnicity
Humans
Interpersonal relations
Life course
Life events
Longitudinal Studies
Mental depression
Prospective Studies
Quality
Race
Social Class
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic status
stress
Stress, Psychological
stressful life events
Young Adult
Young adults
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Summary:Little is known about how biological and psychological consequences of adolescent stressful life events (SLEs) are jointly associated with socioeconomic and relational outcomes in adulthood. To address this gap, the present study involved testing a model based on the life course perspective that posits adolescent SLE trajectories produce parallel trajectories of depressive symptoms and weight status, which are jointly associated with socioeconomic status and intimate relationship quality in adulthood. Prospective data over 13 years from a nationally representative sample of 11,677 US adolescents was utilized. The results demonstrated that trajectories of BMI and depressive symptoms, which showed contemporaneous and longitudinal comorbidities over the early life course, were influenced by adolescent SLEs. Both BMI and depressive symptoms trajectories are additively and jointly associated with socioeconomic status and intimate relationship quality in adulthood. Additionally, adolescent SLE trajectories are directly associated with these adult outcomes. These observed associations persisted even after controlling for early family socioeconomic adversity and race/ethnicity. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
ISSN:0261-510X
2044-835X
DOI:10.1111/bjdp.12401