A recent study – The Interaction Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Socioeconomic Circumstances in Adolescent Depressive Symptomatology – conducted by a team of researchers from the Institute of Public Health at the University of Porto (ISPUP), analysed the relationship between childhood adversities experienced within disadvantaged socioeconomic contexts and the development of depressive symptoms during adolescence.
The study, which analysed data from 4,280 participants in the Generation XXI cohort collected since birth until 13 years of age (2005 and 2020), found that children exposed to psychosocial adversity (such as abuse or family dysfunction) and material adversity (financial hardship) were more likely to report moderate to severe depressive symptoms at age 13.
Specifically, the likelihood of developing depressive symptoms increased by 52% for those experiencing abuse, 67% for those facing school-related issues, and 73% for those living in dysfunctional households or disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
The research also revealed new insights into how exposure to different types of adversity interacts to influence the development of depressive symptoms. When the effects of low household income and abuse were considered together, their impact was not only additive but also multiplicative. This indicates that growing up in poverty while simultaneously experiencing abuse is even worse than expected when considering their individual risks separately.
On the other hand, the study revealed that different combinations of adverse experiences lead to different outcomes. “Although each adverse experience is individually and significantly associated with relevant depressive symptoms, when combined, they do not show an additive or multiplicative effect. This highlights the complexity of the underlying mechanisms that may explain the associations between these factors and health,” explains Armine Abrahamyan, ISPUP researcher in the Laboratory Social Adversity and Health Inequalities, and the study’s lead author.
These findings underscore the importance of developing public policies focused on promoting social equity from early childhood by adopting strategies that can potentially prevent adversity and bring about transformative changes in the lives of children exposed to psychosocial and material challenges.
