Processes of cumulative adversity : Childhood disadvantage and increased risk of heart attack across the life course

This article examines how processes of cumulative adversity shape heart attack risk trajectories across the life course. Our sample includes 9,760 Health and Retirement Study respondents born between 1931 and 1941. Using self-reported retrospective measures of respondents' early background, we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2005-10, Vol.60 (Special_Issue_2), p.117-124
Main Authors: O'RAND, Angela M, HAMIL-LUKER, Jenifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Children
Children & youth
Cluster Analysis
Developmental psychology
Disadvantaged
Disadvantages
Elderly
Family Characteristics
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Health risk assessment
Heart attacks
Heart Diseases
Human Development
Humans
Likelihood Functions
Male
Middle Aged
Myocardial Infarction - epidemiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychosocial Deprivation
Regression Analysis
Risk
Risk Factors
Social Environment
Socioeconomic Factors
United States - epidemiology
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Summary:This article examines how processes of cumulative adversity shape heart attack risk trajectories across the life course. Our sample includes 9,760 Health and Retirement Study respondents born between 1931 and 1941. Using self-reported retrospective measures of respondents' early background, we first identify three latent classes with differential exposure to childhood disadvantage. Intervening covariates associated with educational attainment, employment status, income attainment, marital history, and health behaviors are added to capture sequential processes of adversity. Final latent-class cluster models estimate the cumulative impact of these covariates on three different heart attack risk trajectories between 1992 and 2002: high, increasing, and low. Early disadvantage and childhood illness have severe enduring effects and increase the risk for heart attack. Adult pathways, however, differentially influence trajectories of heart attack risk and mediate the effects of early disadvantage. Findings suggest that future research should consider how processes of cumulative adversity initiated in childhood influence health outcomes in older ages.
ISSN:1079-5014
1758-5368
DOI:10.1093/geronb/60.special_issue_2.s117