Herath Binoli, Zhang Xing
College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, 425 N. 5th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025 Aug 26;22(9):1323. doi: 10.3390/ijerph22091323.
Discrimination has been linked to greater stress and higher levels of depressive symptoms. However, there has been no research to date that has examined how life course inequality due to everyday discrimination is associated with mental health outcomes later in life. Using data from Waves I, IV, and V of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) from 1994 to 2018, we examined how everyday discrimination in young adulthood (Wave IV) was associated with depressive symptoms at early midlife (Wave V). We also examined how parent-child relationships in young adulthood (maternal and paternal closeness; satisfaction of communication with mothers and fathers) moderated this association. We analyzed two sub samples: a mother sample (n = 9390) and a father sample (n = 8229). Results from both showed that everyday discrimination in young adulthood was significantly associated with depressive symptoms at early midlife, and parent-child relationships served as significant protective factors against depression. Mental health policy and intervention efforts should address how discrimination experienced in young adulthood can have enduring adverse effects on mental health into early midlife and invest in strategies that promote supportive parent-child relationships as protective resources.
歧视与更大的压力和更高水平的抑郁症状有关。然而，迄今为止，尚无研究探讨因日常歧视导致的人生历程不平等如何与晚年的心理健康结果相关联。利用1994年至2018年全国青少年健康纵向研究（Add Health）第一、四、五轮的数据，我们研究了青年期（第四轮）的日常歧视如何与中年早期（第五轮）的抑郁症状相关联。我们还研究了青年期的亲子关系（与母亲和父亲的亲密程度；与母亲和父亲沟通的满意度）如何调节这种关联。我们分析了两个子样本：母亲样本（n = 9390）和父亲样本（n = 8229）。两个样本的结果均显示，青年期的日常歧视与中年早期的抑郁症状显著相关，亲子关系是预防抑郁症的重要保护因素。心理健康政策和干预措施应关注青年期所经历的歧视如何对中年早期的心理健康产生持久的不利影响，并投入策略来促进支持性的亲子关系，将其作为保护性资源。
