Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Tukholmankatu 8 B, PO BOX 20, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 8;14(1):23422. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-74012-4.
Childhood disadvantage is associated with increased adult psychological distress, but the role of behavioral risk factors in the pathway remains unclear. We examined whether behavioral risk factors mediate the effects of childhood disadvantage on adult psychological distress. We used the Helsinki Health Study data of employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland, aged 19-39 (mean age 32.0) years at baseline (2017). We included women (n = 2397) and men (n = 586) who responded to both baseline and follow-up (2022) surveys. At baseline, eight types of childhood disadvantage were asked retrospectively, and six adult behavioral risk factors were included. Psychological distress was measured by the DASS-21 at follow-up. We conducted mediation analyses using generalized structural equation modeling. Among women, we found indirect path effects of childhood disadvantage on adult psychological distress through behavioral risk factors (symptoms of depression: β = 0.68, 95% CI 0.20-1.17; anxiety: β = 0.54, 95% CI 0.13-0.95; and stress: β = 0.69, 95% CI 0.20-1.09). Among men, childhood disadvantage contributed only directly to adult depressive (β = 0.71, 95% CI 0.16-1.26) and stress (β = 0.61, 95% CI 0.10-1.13) symptoms. Our findings suggest that behavioral risk factors can mediate some of the adverse effects of childhood disadvantage on adult psychological distress among women.
童年逆境与成年后心理困扰增加有关，但行为风险因素在其中的作用尚不清楚。我们研究了行为风险因素是否在童年逆境对成年后心理困扰的影响中起中介作用。我们使用了芬兰赫尔辛基市员工的赫尔辛基健康研究数据，参与者在基线（2017 年）时年龄为 19-39 岁（平均年龄 32.0 岁），包括女性（n=2397）和男性（n=586），他们都对基线和随访（2022 年）调查做出了回应。在基线时，我们回顾性地询问了 8 种类型的童年逆境，并纳入了 6 种成年行为风险因素。心理困扰在随访时通过 DASS-21 进行测量。我们使用广义结构方程模型进行中介分析。在女性中，我们发现童年逆境对成年后心理困扰的间接路径效应是通过行为风险因素产生的（抑郁症状：β=0.68，95%置信区间 0.20-1.17；焦虑症状：β=0.54，95%置信区间 0.13-0.95；压力症状：β=0.69，95%置信区间 0.20-1.09）。在男性中，童年逆境仅直接导致成年后抑郁（β=0.71，95%置信区间 0.16-1.26）和压力（β=0.61，95%置信区间 0.10-1.13）症状。我们的研究结果表明，在女性中，行为风险因素可以在一定程度上中介童年逆境对成年后心理困扰的不利影响。
