Publication Date
12-2020
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology
Keywords
Cardiometabolic risk, Infancy, Metabolic syndrome, Psychosocial risk, Young adulthood
Abstract
Greater psychosocial risk in childhood and adolescence predicts poorer cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood. We assessed whether the timing of psychosocial risk from infancy through adolescence predicts cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood. Young adults and their mothers participated in a longitudinal study beginning in infancy in Santiago, Chile (N = 1040). At infancy, 5 years, 10 years, and adolescence, mothers reported on depressive symptoms, stressful experiences, support for child development in the home, father absence, parental education, and socioeconomic status (SES) to create a psychosocial risk composite at each time point. Young adults (52.1% female; 21–27 years) provided fasting serum samples and participated in anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) assessments, including a dualenergy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan for measuring body fat. Greater infant psychosocial risk was associated with a greater young adult metabolic syndrome score (β = 0.07, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.01 to 0.13, p = 0.02), a higher body mass index and waist circumference composite (β = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.13, p = 0.002), and a higher body fat (DXA) composite (β = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.12, p = 0.02). No psychosocial risk measure from any time point was associated with BP. Infant psychosocial risk predicted cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood better than psychosocial risk at 5 years, 10 years, or adolescence, mean of psychosocial risk from infancy through adolescence, and maximum of psychosocial risk at any one time. Consistent with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease model, findings suggest that infancy is a sensitive period for psychosocial risk leading to poorer cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood.
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Statement
This article was originally published as:
Doom, J., Rivera, K., Blanco, E., Burrows, R., Correa-Burrows, P., East, P., . . . Gahagan, S. (2020). Sensitive periods for psychosocial risk in childhood and adolescence and cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 32(5), 1864-1875. doi:10.1017/S0954579420001248
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Recommended Citation
Doom, Jenalee R.; Rivera, Kenia M.; Blanco, Estela; Burrows, Raquel; Correa-Burrows, Paulina; East, Patricia L.; Lozoff, Betsy; and Gahagan, Sheila, "Sensitive Periods for Psychosocial Risk in Childhood and Adolescence and Cardiometabolic Outcomes in Young Adulthood" (2020). Psychology: Faculty Scholarship. 183.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/psychology_faculty/183