Department of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Indiana University Center for Aging Research, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
J Aging Health. 2024 Jun;36(5-6):275-285. doi: 10.1177/08982643231185426. Epub 2023 Jun 26.
Social relationships are widely regarded as salubrious, but do they mediate the influence of childhood experiences on frailty in later life? Drawing from cumulative inequality theory, we assess the influence of childhood experiences and adult relationships on frailty trajectories. We analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the influence of six domains of childhood experiences and social relationships on frailty trajectories over 8 years. Mediation analyses were completed with structural equation models. Risky adolescent behavior, chronic disease, and impairments during childhood are associated directly with higher risk of initial frailty, but not over time. More social roles and higher social support mediate the relationship between childhood experiences and frailty, and the effect of more social roles continues over time. This study provides compelling evidence that supportive social relationships mediate the risk and severity of frailty in later life associated with noxious childhood experiences.
社会关系被广泛认为是有益健康的，但它们是否能调节童年经历对晚年脆弱性的影响？本文借鉴累积不平等理论，评估了童年经历和成人关系对脆弱性轨迹的影响。我们分析了健康与退休研究的数据，以研究六个童年经历领域和社会关系对 8 年脆弱性轨迹的影响。采用结构方程模型进行中介分析。青春期行为风险、慢性疾病和儿童期损伤与初始脆弱性的风险增加直接相关，但随时间推移并非如此。更多的社会角色和更高的社会支持度调节了童年经历与脆弱性之间的关系，而且社会角色的作用会持续一段时间。这项研究提供了有力的证据，表明支持性的社会关系可以调节与有害的童年经历相关的晚年脆弱性的风险和严重程度。
