UC Irvine

Across two studies, this dissertation examined how life adversity for African Americans contributes to their health outcomes and how adverse experiences occurring in one generation may be associated with the health outcomes of subsequent generations. In Chapter 2, a systematic review exploring the empirical literature on associations between parental preconception adversity and offspring physical health in African-American families was conducted. Thirty-eight articles representing 30 independent studies met inclusion criteria. Ultimately, twenty-five studies (83%) reported that parental preconception adversity was associated with child health; six studies (20%) reported that parental preconception adversity was not associated with at least one offspring outcome; several studies reported both. Only six studies (20%) reported an association specific to African Americans. In Chapter 3, a dyadic sample of African-American mothers and adult children (N = 57 dyads) was used to investigate whether several types of maternal adversity were related to their child’s health, as well as if the specific timing of adversity played a role in offspring health outcomes. Findings showed that greater maternal preconception general adversity (IRR, 1.05; 95% CI: 1.00-1.11) was associated with a higher number of doctor-diagnosed offspring health ailments after controlling for adversity during other time periods and offspring adversity. Greater maternal post-conception law enforcement adversity was associated with better self-rated health in their offspring (unstandardized b = -.23, SE = .07, z = -3.10, p = .002). Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of both timing and type of maternal adversity when exploring links to offspring health. Findings also demonstrate how maternal adversity can be linked to adult offspring health while controlling for offspring’s own adversity exposure. The significance of utilizing a more fine-grained approach to examining links between parental adversity and offspring health in African Americans is discussed.