elationship of Early Life Stress and Psychological unctioning to Adult C-Reactive Protein in the oronary Artery Risk Development in Young dults Study

ackground: Low socioeconomic status (SES) and a harsh family environment in childhood have been linked to mental and physical ealth disorders in adulthood. The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate a developmental model of pathways that may elp explain these links and to relate them to C-reactive protein (CRP) in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults CARDIA) dataset. ethods: Participants (n 3248) in the CARDIA study, age 32 to 47 years, completed measures of childhood SES (CSES), early family nvironment (risky families [RF]), adult psychosocial functioning (PsyF, a latent factor measured by depression, mastery, and positive nd negative social contacts), body mass index (BMI), and C-reactive protein. esults: Structural equation modeling indicated that CSES and RF are associated with C-reactive protein via their association with syF (standardized path coefficients: CSES to RF, RF to PsyF, PsyF to CRP, CSES to CRP, all p .05), with good overall model fit. The ssociation between PsyF and CRP was partially mediated by BMI (PsyF to BMI, BMI to CRP, both p .05). onclusions: Low childhood SES and a harsh early family environment appear to be related to elevated C-reactive protein in dulthood through pathways involving psychosocial dysfunction and high body mass index.