Orri - Adversity in the early-life social environment Flashcards
What is the Bronfenbrenner socio-ecological theory?
Child is under the influence of multiple layers:
-Child itself (genetic makeup)
-Microsystem (e.g., family)
-Mesosystem (e.g., relationships between microsystems)
-Macrosystem (e.g., culture)
-Exosystem (e.g., people and places indirectly impact the child’s life)
-Chronosystem (time)
What is the problem of “response shift” in the context of psychosocial measurement?
The perception of an event will change according to the time distance from that event
Longitudinal follow-up is typical of retrospective or prospective measurement?
Prospective
Are retrospective or prospective measurements of childhood adversity usually concordant?
No. Studies have shown that they do not identify the same groups of individuals.
What are the differences between a confounding factor, a mediator, and a moderator in an exposure-outcome relationship?
Confounding factor: explains the association between exposure and outcome
Mediator: exposure influences outcome via mediator
Moderator: variable that is associated with the direction or the magnitude of the exposure-outcome relationship
What is a key social determinant of mental health?
SES
Why does poverty tend to be more harmful to mental health when in an environment of social inequality?
Less social cohesion and trust, feelings of powerlessness, and internalization of hierarchy.
What is a counter-intuitive finding about the association between schizophrenia and psychosis when it comes to developing countries? What can account for this?
Association no longer holds.
Urban-rural disparities and social isolation in HICs may not be present (or be less evident) in LMICs
What are the main dimensions of neighbourhood adversity?
Physical
Social
Economic
What are some of the outcomes to neighbourhood adversity exposure?
Education
SES
Mental/physical health
Mortality
How does long-term precariousness vary according to levels of (neighbourhood) adversity in early life?
Quite linearly
What are the leading hypotheses to explain the association between socioeconomic adversity and mental health?
Social causation hypothesis: low SES lead to MHP
Social selection hypothesis: MHP lead to drifting in SES
What mechanisms could account for the social causation hypothesis?
Institutional (e.g., low quality education, violence and crime, few network opportunities, parental job insecurity, etc.)
Relational (parental MHP, neglect, poor parenting practices,
Biological (critical periods, development, stress levels, etc.)
+ interplay between mechanisms
What is evidence for social selection hypothesis?
Polygenic risk score for schizophrenia is associated with urbanicity level
