This study contributes to the literature on the long-term effects of childhood disadvantage on mental health by estimating the association between patterns of cumulative childhood adversity on trajectories of psychological distress in adulthood. There is little research that investigates how compositional variations in the accumulation of childhood adversity may initiate distinct processes of disadvantage and differentially shape trajectories of psychological distress across the adult life course. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Childhood Retrospective Circumstance Study and latent class analysis, we first identify distinct classes representing varied histories of exposure to childhood adversities using 25 indicators of adversity across multiple childhood domains. Next, the latent classes are included as predictors of trajectories of psychological distress in adulthood. The results demonstrate that patterns of experiences of childhood adversity are associated with higher levels of adult psychological distress that persists, and in some cases worsens, in adulthood, contributing to disparities in mental health across the life course.

中文翻译：

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童年不利的持久印记：童年逆境的累积历史和成年期心理困扰的轨迹

本研究通过估计累积的童年逆境模式与成年期心理困扰轨迹之间的关联，为有关儿童时期不利条件对心理健康的长期影响的文献做出贡献。很少有研究调查童年逆境积累中的成分变化如何引发不同的不利过程，并在整个成年生活过程中形成不同的心理困扰轨迹。使用收入动态儿童回顾性环境研究的小组研究和潜在类别分析，我们首先使用跨多个童年领域的 25 个逆境指标确定代表不同童年逆境暴露历史的不同类别。下一个，潜在类别被包括作为成年期心理困扰轨迹的预测因子。结果表明，童年逆境经历的模式与更高水平的成人心理困扰有关，这种困扰在成年期持续存在，并且在某些情况下会恶化，从而导致整个生命过程中心理健康的差异。