Child Maltreatment and Inflammation in Young Adults: The Role of Resilience Protective Factors

Epidemiologic studies show maltreatment in childhood is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease in later life with effects observed even after controlling for traditional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension and physical inactivity. In recent years, inflammation has emerged as an important pathway through which maltreatment confers vulnerability cardiovascular disease because it is implicated in the development and progression of atherosclerosis, the condition underlying cardiovascular disease. Most of the existing literature linking maltreatment to high inflammation however comes from middle aged and older adult populations. Moreover, little is understood about how and why some adults avoid the chronic disease costs of childhood maltreatment while others do not.

This study uses restricted data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to test the association between maltreatment and C-rective protein--a biological marker of inflammation--in a US population of young adults (mean age 28). Further, we analyze the potential moderating role of two resilience protective factors: family connectedness and school connectedness.  Preliminary results show that the number of maltreatment events is associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein.