Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Dec;27(8):1311-38.
doi: 10.1177/0898264315580122. Epub 2015 Apr 22.

Childhood Adversities and Adult Cardiometabolic Health: Does the Quantity, Timing, and Type of Adversity Matter?

Esther M Friedman  1 , Jennifer Karas Montez  2 , Connor McDevitt Sheehan  3 , Tara L Guenewald  4 , Teresa E Seeman  5
Affiliations

Childhood Adversities and Adult Cardiometabolic Health: Does the Quantity, Timing, and Type of Adversity Matter?

Esther M Friedman et al. J Aging Health. 2015 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Adverse events in childhood can indelibly influence adult health. While evidence for this association has mounted, a fundamental set of questions about how to operationalize adverse events has been understudied.

Method: We used data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States to examine how quantity, timing, and types of adverse events in childhood are associated with adult cardiometabolic health.

Results: The best-fitting specification of quantity of events was a linear measure reflecting a dose-response relationship. Timing of event mattered less than repeated exposure to events. Regarding the type of event, academic interruptions and sexual/physical abuse were most important. Adverse childhood events elevated the risk of diabetes and obesity similarly for men and women but had a greater impact on women's risk of heart disease.

Discussion: Findings demonstrate the insights that can be gleaned about the early-life origins of adult health by examining operationalization of childhood exposures.

Keywords: childhood; diabetes; gender; heart disease; life course; midlife; obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Barker DJP. Maternal nutrition, fetal nutrition, and disease in later life. Nutrition. 1997;13:807–813. - PubMed
    1. Ben-Shlomo Y, Kuh D. A life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology: Conceptual models, empirical challenges and interdisciplinary perspectives. International Epidemiological Association. 2002;31:285–293. - PubMed
    1. Blackwell DL, Hayward MD, Crimmins EM. Does childhood health affect chronic morbidity in later life? Social Science & Medicine. 2001;52:1269–1284. - PubMed
    1. Bosch NM, Riese H, Reijneveld SA, Bakker MP, Verhulst FC, Ormel J, Oldehinkel AJ. Timing matters: Long term effects of adversities from prenatal period up to adolescence on adolescents’ cortisol stress response. The TRAILS study. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2012;37:1439–1447. - PubMed
    1. Cohen S, Doyle WJ, Turner RB, Alper CM, Skoner DP. Childhood socioeconomic status and host resistance to infectious illness in adulthood. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2004;66:553–558. - PubMed

Publication types