Poster #24 - Mental Health Disparities in College-Age Women: Exploring the Role of Childhood Discrimination Alongside Other Adverse Childhood Experiences

• In Event: Poster Session 08

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) contribute to a high burden of mental health problems across the lifespan (Mitchell et al., 2020). Young adulthood is an especially risky time, as it the peak period for the emergence of serious mental health concerns (Pedrelli et al., 2015). Notably, persistent disparities exist in both ACEs and mental health problems along the lines of identity (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, immigrant status). Researchers have increasingly called attention to the fact that discrimination has profound effects on health and well-being across the lifespan and is a significant contributing factor to these health disparities (Williams et al., 2019; Valentine & Shipherd, 2019). Experiences of discrimination begin in early-life (Heard-Garris et al., 2018) and emergent evidence highlights how racial discrimination in childhood negatively impacts Black youth, even after accounting for the effects of other ACEs (Bernard et al., 2021). Despite this, studies on the effects of ACEs rarely include questions about discrimination. The aim of this study was to assess childhood experiences of discrimination – both vicariously and directly – alongside other types of ACEs and examine the effects of these experiences on mental health outcomes in young adulthood. Data for this study were drawn from a sample of 526 US college women (Mage = 20.21, SD = 2.43). Approximately 41% of the sample identified as a racial or ethnic minority, 22% identified as a LGBTQ+, and 54% identified as a 1st-3rd generation immigrant. ACEs were assessed using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire – 2nd revision (Finkelhor et al., 2011), which focuses on adverse experiences related to violence. Childhood discrimination was assessed using six experimental items that asked if participants had ever experienced unfair treatment or judgement –directly or indirectly – on the basis of race, gender, and sexual orientation. These items had good reliability (a= 0.73). Recent mental health symptoms were assessed using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale – 21 item version (DASS-21; Osman et al., 2012) and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5; Weathers et al., 2013). Across the entire sample, childhood discrimination was significantly associated with greater symptoms of depression (B = 0.47, p < .01), anxiety, (B = 0.33, p < .05), stress (B = 0.45, p < .05), and posttraumatic stress (B = 1.23, p < .05), even after accounting for the effects of other ACEs. However, further analysis demonstrated the effects of childhood discrimination on depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress were only significant for women who held at least one other marginalized identity (racial/ethnic minority, LGBTQ+, immigrant). These findings highlight the importance of including discrimination experienced in childhood alongside other childhood adversities, especially for women who hold other marginalized identities. Moreover, they demonstrate how childhood discrimination likely contributes to persistent health inequities in US adults.

Authors

• Maria M. Galano, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Minji Lee, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Ana Uribe, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Colin T Mahoney, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs