Adverse Childhood Experiences and Life Course Depressive Symptoms: Do Peer Network Ties Buffer or Amplify?

Abstract

Childhood adversity affects life course mental health, but patterns may differ across adversity exposures or across social experiences that buffer or amplify risks of adversity. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N=7,597), we join the life course perspective with social networks and the stress process model to explore the relationships between adverse childhood experiences, peer networks, and depressive symptoms. Latent class analysis indicates three adversity subtypes (Maltreatment, Household Challenges, and Low Adversity) predicting distinct depressive symptom trajectories from ages 12–32. Peer network sociality and popularity predict depressive symptom trajectories uniquely across latent classes, with particular risks for Maltreated youth, who see no mental health benefits from sociality and amplified risks from popularity. Results speak to the life course consequences of childhood adversity and the roles of social ties in shaping depressive symptoms for vulnerable youth.