Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.
SAMRC Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Am J Biol Anthropol. 2023 Dec;182(4):620-631. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24791. Epub 2023 Jun 7.
The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa introduced new societal adversities and mental health threats in a country where one in three individuals are expected to develop a psychiatric condition sometime in their life. Scientists have suggested that psychosocial stress and trauma during childhood may increase one's vulnerability to the mental health consequences of future stressors-a process known as stress sensitization. This prospective analysis assessed whether childhood adversity experienced among South African children across the first 18 years of life, coinciding with the post-apartheid transition, exacerbates the mental health impacts of psychosocial stress experienced during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (ca. 2020-2021).
Data came from 88 adults who participated in a follow-up study of a longitudinal birth cohort study in Soweto, South Africa. Childhood adversity and COVID-19 psychosocial stress were assessed as primary predictors of adult PTSD risk, and an interaction term between childhood adversity and COVID-19 stress was calculated to evaluate the potential effect of stress sensitization.
Fifty-six percent of adults exhibited moderate-to-severe PTSD symptoms. Greater childhood adversity and higher COVID-19 psychosocial stress independently predicted worse post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in adults. Adults who reported greater childhood adversity exhibited non-significantly worse PTSD symptoms from COVID-19 psychosocial stress.
These results highlight the deleterious mental health effects of both childhood trauma and COVID-19 psychosocial stress in our sample and emphasize the need for greater and more accessible mental health support as the pandemic progresses in South Africa.
南非的 COVID-19 大流行给这个国家带来了新的社会逆境和精神健康威胁，该国预计每三个人中就有一人在一生中会出现某种精神疾病。科学家们提出，儿童时期的心理社会压力和创伤可能会增加一个人对未来压力源的精神健康后果的脆弱性，这一过程被称为应激敏感化。这项前瞻性分析评估了南非儿童在生命的头 18 年期间经历的童年逆境，是否会加剧他们在 2019 年冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行（约 2020-2021 年）期间经历的心理社会压力的心理健康影响。
数据来自于 88 名参加南非索韦托一项纵向出生队列研究的后续研究的成年人。童年逆境和 COVID-19 心理社会压力被评估为成人 PTSD 风险的主要预测因素，并计算了童年逆境和 COVID-19 压力之间的交互项，以评估应激敏感化的潜在影响。
56%的成年人表现出中度至重度 PTSD 症状。更多的童年逆境和更高的 COVID-19 心理社会压力独立地预测了成年人更严重的创伤后应激障碍症状。报告有更多童年逆境的成年人在 COVID-19 心理社会压力下表现出非显著更差的 PTSD 症状。
这些结果突出了在我们的样本中，儿童创伤和 COVID-19 心理社会压力对心理健康的有害影响，并强调了随着大流行在南非的进展，需要更大和更容易获得的心理健康支持。
