Cumulative Childhood Adversity and Its Associations With Mental Health in Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood in Rural China

Capitalizing on a 15-year longitudinal dataset of 9-12 years old children in rural China, this study adopts a life course perspective and analyzes cumulative childhood adversity and its associations with mental health problems from childhood to adulthood. Four domains of childhood life are selected to construct cumulative childhood adversity: socioeconomic hardship, family disruption, physical issue, and academic setback. Overall, cumulative childhood adversity significantly associates with children's internalizing and externalizing problems as well as adults' depression and self-esteem. However, cumulative childhood adversity has no significant relationship with internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence. Furthermore, different domains of childhood adversity matter differently for mental health problems in different life stages. Physical issue and academic setback have the strongest association with internalizing and externalizing problems in childhood, while only socioeconomic hardship has a significant relationship with depression and self-esteem in adulthood. The relationship between cumulative childhood adversity and adult mental health problems is fully mediated by educational attainment. Finally, there is no gender difference in either the occurrence of cumulative childhood adversity or the association between cumulative childhood adversity and mental health problems.

Automated summary

Cumulative childhood adversity is significantly associated with mental health problems in both children and adults, but not in adolescence. Different domains of childhood adversity have varied impacts on mental health issues at different life stages. The relationship between cumulative childhood adversity and adult mental health problems is fully mediated by educational attainment, with no gender differences observed in the occurrence or impact of cumulative childhood adversity on mental health problems.