Garcia Michael A, Needham Belinda L, Goosby Bridget J, Hummer Robert A, Liu Hui, Umberson Debra
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
J Health Soc Behav. 2024 Oct 5:221465241273870. doi: 10.1177/00221465241273870.
Black Americans experience the death of a parent much earlier in the life course than White Americans on average. However, studies have not considered whether the cardiovascular health consequences of early parental death vary by race. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we explore associations between early parental death and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in early to mid-adulthood (N = 4,193). We find that the death of a parent during childhood or adolescence (ages 0-17) or the transition to adulthood (ages 18-27) is associated with increased CVD risk for Black Americans, whereas parental death following the transition to adulthood (ages 28+) undermines cardiovascular health for both Black Americans and White Americans. These findings illustrate how a stress and life course perspective can help inform strategies aimed at addressing both the unequal burden of bereavement and high cardiovascular risk faced by Black Americans.
与美国白人相比，美国黑人平均在生命历程中更早经历父母死亡。然而，此前的研究尚未考虑过早经历父母死亡对心血管健康的影响是否因种族而异。利用青少年到成人健康全国纵向研究的数据，我们探讨了过早经历父母死亡与成年早期到中期心血管疾病（CVD）风险之间的关联（N = 4193）。我们发现，童年或青少年时期（0 - 17岁）或向成年过渡时期（18 - 27岁）父母死亡与美国黑人患心血管疾病风险增加有关，而成年过渡之后（28岁及以上）父母死亡则会损害美国黑人和白人的心血管健康。这些发现表明，压力和生命历程视角有助于为旨在解决黑人丧亲不平等负担和高心血管疾病风险的策略提供信息。
