Compounding Stress: Childhood Adversity as a Risk Factor for Adulthood Trauma Exposure in the Health and Retirement Study

Abstract

Childhood adversity (CA) and adulthood traumatic experiences (ATEs) are common and unequally distributed in the general population. Early stressors may beget later stressors and alter life-course trajectories of stressor exposure. Gender differences exist regarding the risk of specific stressors. However, few studies have examined the associations between specific types of CA and ATEs. Using a large-scale sample of older adults, we aimed to (a) determine if specific or cumulative CA increased the risk for specific or cumulative ATEs and (b) examine whether these associations were moderated by gender. In a sample from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N = 15,717; M_age = 67.57 years, SD = 10.54), cross-sectional Poisson and logistic regression models were fitted to assess the specific and cumulative associations between CA and ATEs. Overall, cumulative CA was associated with a larger risk ratio of ATEs, adjusted for covariates: aRRRs = 1.28, 1.63, and 1.97 for 1, 2, and 3-4 adverse events in childhood, respectively. Cumulative CA was particularly strongly associated with adulthood physical attacks, aOR = 5.66, and having a substance-abusing spouse or child, aOR = 4.00. Childhood physical abuse was the strongest independent risk factor for cumulative ATEs, aRRR = 1.49, and most strongly associated with adulthood physical attacks, aOR = 3.41. Gender moderated the association between cumulative CA and cumulative ATEs, with slightly stronger associations between cumulative CA and ATEs for women than men. Given that CA and ATEs perpetuate health disparities worldwide, reducing their incidence and effects should be major priorities for public health.