System Overload: Testing Life-Course Theoretical Models of Adversity and Physiological Deterioration

• In Event: Exploring the Collateral Consequences of Incarceration on Wellbeing

Abstract

Research links psychosocial and environmental adversities to poor adult health. However, additional research is needed to learn how stressors over a lifetime create these enduring effects on physical health. Black and Latinx people living in the U.S. disproportionately shoulder adversities that gradually degrade health. The question remains whether this pattern widens health disparities in the U.S. Thus, the present study tests a series of theoretically-derived models in a diverse sample to determine how adversities experienced in adulthood and childhood, especially victimization and criminal legal system involvement, affect health in middle and late adulthood. Using thirteen waves of longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement study, allostatic load was used as an indicator of health because of its ability to detect gradual multi-organ-system decline. Poisson regression analyses were used to test whether adversities in childhood and adulthood interact with one another to deteriorate health or if the quantity of adversities are especially detrimental. Findings suggest that incarceration and childhood adversities that span multiple domains are the most reliable predictors of allostatic load. The present study contributes to research on social determinants of health with implications for health care in the U.S. that may improve health outcomes for Black and Latinx populations.

Authors

• Kendall Riley, University of Iowa

• Mark T. Berg, The University of Iowa