What is it about?

Exposure to childhood adversity is a significant risk factor for chronic illnesses in adulthood. This study showed that both prospective and retrospective measures reliably predict heart diseases. Further, this paper also indicates parental emotional support in adolescence as a significant stress-buffering process. Thus, parental emotional support prevents childhood adversity responses, which can be detrimental to health.

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Why is it important?

This study is among the first to compare self-reported measures of childhood adversities from different methods that were gathered years apart and reported by the same respondent. In addition, our findings provide evidence that retrospective and prospective measures provide similar information about the stress-buffering process.

Perspectives

Using different methods, I provide strong evidence that early experience is critical to health across the life course. Besides, I hope this article has provided some insights regarding the family as a support system in our life.

Dr Man Kit Lei
University of Georgia

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Childhood adversity and cardiovascular disease risk: An appraisal of recall methods with a focus on stress-buffering processes in childhood and adulthood, Social Science & Medicine, February 2020, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112794.
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