Cumulative Socioeconomic Adversity, Developmental Pathways, and Mental Health Risks During the Early Life Course

Abstract

The current study examines two developmental risk pathways (an academic/economic pathway and a delinquency/interpersonal pathway) linking cumulative socioeconomic adversity to subsequent depressive symptoms and the interplay between these pathways and depressive symptoms using path analysis with a sample of 14,563 respondents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health over a 13-year period. Minority youth comprised 49% of this nationally representative sample, including 21% Blacks, 16% Hispanics, 6% Asians, 2% Native Americans, and 4% multiracial youth. Cumulative socioeconomic adversity appears to initiate an adverse life course process involving depressive symptoms, academic/economic difficulties, and delinquency/interpersonal incompetency. It appears that mediating life experiences partially explain the persistent influence of socioeconomic adversity and the continuity of depressive symptoms over the early life course. A deeper understanding of this dynamic process provides insight into the prevention of emotional problems in these early life stages.