Early Adversity and Adult Socioeconomic Marginalization

Published studies have documented a strong and generally consistent link between childhood adversities (e.g., child maltreatment, stressful living environments) and impairments in adult psychosocial functioning.  However, there have been few prospective studies of the long-term impacts of child maltreatment and stressful environments on educational attainment, employment, and financial stability-- leading indicators of socioeconomic marginalization. Particularly needed are longitudinal studies that help disentangle the effects on these adult outcomes of household stressors and subtypes of child maltreatment measured using different data sources (e.g., parents’ self-reports and official records). This study used person-centered methodology to examine whether there are subgroups of individuals with distinct profiles of socioeconomic marginalization in adulthood, and the degree to which household stressors and child maltreatment subtypes differentially predict subgroup membership. 

Data are from a longitudinal panel study of 457 children and their families, which began in 1976-1977 when child participants were 18 months to 6 years of age. The panel was reassessed several times, including most recently in 2008-2010, when the original children of the study had reached their mid-30s (36 years on average; retention rate = 80% of those still living).  Adult measures of socioeconomic marginalization include educational attainment (highest degree by adulthood), employment status, earnings, food security (e.g., quality of food eaten in the household, whether the family could afford the food they needed), and welfare use (e.g., receipt of public assistance for the household, number of years on welfare).

Results of a latent class analysis of adult outcomes revealed four classes: (1) low disadvantage (53.1%); (2) moderate disadvantage (10.0%); (3) low education, low income (26.6%); and (4) high disadvantage, low income (10.3%).  While neither repeated measures of household stressors nor subtypes of parent-reported child maltreatment differentiated (predicted) these four classes, officially recorded child maltreatment predicted class membership.  For example, the odds of being classified in the high disadvantage, low income group relative to the low disadvantage group, were significantly higher (OR: 2.739, p<.05) for those with a substantiated history of child maltreatment, as were the odds of being classified in the moderate disadvantage group relative to the low disadvantage group (OR: 2.558, p<.05). Findings suggest the importance of primary prevention. Further details of these analyses and implications for prevention and intervention will be discussed.