Dataset Information

Social adversity in adolescence increases the physiological vulnerability to job strain in adulthood: a prospective population-based study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It has been argued that the association between job strain and health could be confounded by early life exposures, and studies have shown early adversity to increase individual vulnerability to later stress. We therefore investigated if early life exposure to adversity increases the individual's physiological vulnerability job strain in adulthood.

Methodology/principal findings

In a population-based cohort (343 women and 330 men, 83% of the eligible participants), we examined the association between on the one hand exposure to adversity in adolescence, measured at age 16, and job strain measured at age 43, and on the other hand allostatic load at age 43. Adversity was operationalised as an index comprising residential mobility and crowding, parental loss, parental unemployment, and parental physical and mental illness (including substance abuse). Allostatic load summarised body fat, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, glucose, blood lipids, and cortisol regulation. There was an interaction between adversity in adolescence and job strain (B = 0.09, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.16 after adjustment for socioeconomic status), particularly psychological demands, indicating that job strain was associated with increased allostatic load only among participants with adversity in adolescence. Job strain was associated with lower allostatic load in men (? = -0.20, 95% CI -0.35 to -0.06).

Conclusions/significance

Exposure to adversity in adolescence was associated with increased levels of biological stress among those reporting job strain in mid-life, indicating increased vulnerability to environmental stressors.

SUBMITTER: Westerlund H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3338487 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Social adversity in adolescence increases the physiological vulnerability to job strain in adulthood: a prospective population-based study.

Westerlund Hugo H Gustafsson Per E PE Theorell Töres T Janlert Urban U Hammarström Anne A

PloS one 20120425 4

<h4>Background</h4>It has been argued that the association between job strain and health could be confounded by early life exposures, and studies have shown early adversity to increase individual vulnerability to later stress. We therefore investigated if early life exposure to adversity increases the individual's physiological vulnerability job strain in adulthood.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>In a population-based cohort (343 women and 330 men, 83% of the eligible participants), we ex ...[more]

PMID: 22558285

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Project description:The study aims to evaluate the association between exposure to childhood adversity and insomnia, with an emphasis on the role of adversity type, timing, and accumulation (i.e., the number of specific types of adversities the child reported being exposed to).Our analytic sample comprised 9582 adolescents from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), a nationally representative population-based sample. We examined the association between 18 different types of retrospectively reported adversities (capturing interpersonal violence, accidents and injuries, social network or witnessing events, and other adverse events) and risk of self-reported past-year insomnia. We also examined whether the age at first exposure to adversity was associated with the risk of insomnia, and whether exposure to a greater number of different types of adversities (ie, accumulation) conferred an elevated risk of insomnia. In addition, we performed a sensitivity analysis excluding adolescents with a past-year diagnosis of major depression, dysthymia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or generalized anxiety disorder.Almost one-third of adolescents reported insomnia, with a higher prevalence among girls and those from racial/ethnic minority groups. Adolescents exposed to at least one childhood adversity of any type (59.41%) were more likely than their nonexposed peers to experience insomnia (across adversities, prevalence ratios (PRs) ranged from 1.31 to 1.89). Risk of insomnia differed based on the age at first exposure to adversity as well as the type of adversity. Adolescents exposed to a greater number of different types of adversities had a higher risk of insomnia compared to those experiencing fewer adversities. These results were similar, by and large, to those obtained after excluding adolescents with at least one of the four past-year psychiatric disorders.Exposure to adversity confers an elevated risk of insomnia. This association varied by type, timing, and accumulation of exposure and did not appear to be driven by psychiatric disorders. Given the well-documented physical and mental health consequences of insomnia, such findings further support the need for practitioners to screen children for exposure to childhood adversity and insomnia symptoms.

Dataset Information

Social adversity in adolescence increases the physiological vulnerability to job strain in adulthood: a prospective population-based study.

Background

Methodology/principal findings

Conclusions/significance

Publications

Social adversity in adolescence increases the physiological vulnerability to job strain in adulthood: a prospective population-based study.

Similar Datasets

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