Abstract
Previous studies have documented that early adversity increases young adults’ risk for diabetes resulting in morbidity and comorbidity with adverse health conditions. However, less is known about how inter-related physiological (e.g., body mass index [BMI]), psychological (e.g., depressive symptoms), and behavioral mechanisms (e.g., unhealthy eating and sedentary behavior) link early adversity to young adults’ diabetes outcomes, although these mechanisms appear to stem from early stressful experiences. The current study tested the patterning of these longitudinal pathways leading to young adults’ diabetes using a nationally representative sample of 13,286 adolescents (54% female) over a period of 13 years. The findings indicated that early adversity contributed to elevated BMI, depressive symptoms, and stress-related health behaviors. The impact of these linking mechanisms on hierarchical diabetes outcomes (i.e., prediabetes and diabetes) remained significant after taking their associations with each other into account, showing that these mechanisms operate concurrently. The findings emphasize the importance of early detection for risk factors of young adults’ diabetes in order to minimize their detrimental health effects.
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Acknowledgements
This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.
Author’s Contributions
K.A.S.W. conceived of the study, conducted the preliminary analyses, and drafted the manuscript; D. B. participated in the design, analyses, and interpretation of the data; C.W.O. participated in manuscript preparation and revisions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wickrama, K.A.S., Bae, D. & O’Neal, C.W. Explaining the Association between Early Adversity and Young Adults’ Diabetes Outcomes: Physiological, Psychological, and Behavioral Mechanisms. J Youth Adolescence 46, 2407–2420 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0639-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0639-y