title: Childhood socioeconomic status is associated with psychosocial resources in African Americans: the Pittsburgh Healthy Heart Project.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether lower childhood socioeconomic status (SES) was associated with fewer psychosocial resources independent of adult SES, and whether these associations differed by race/ethnicity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study of 342 middle-aged (M = 60.5 ± 4.7) African American (n = 49) and Caucasian (n = 293) adults. Childhood SES and adult SES were assessed via highest parental education and participant education, respectively. Participants completed: (a) 6 days of ecological momentary assessment via electronic diaries to assess social support and the number of social interactions and (b) self-report measures of social support, social network diversity, and coping-specifically, active, planning, and emotion focused coping.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The interaction term for childhood SES and race/ethnicity significantly predicted several psychosocial resources. Lower childhood SES was associated with less perceived social support in daily life, a less diverse social network, and more limited use of proactive coping strategies in adulthood among African Americans, regardless of adult SES. Comparable associations were not observed among Caucasians.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Childhood SES is associated with psychosocial resources in adulthood among African Americans, independent of SES in adulthood. Given emerging associations between childhood SES and health in adulthood, future studies to disentangle the role of psychosocial resources as a mediating pathway and to further examine racial/ethnic variations across these associations are warranted.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, USA. dlbeatty@umbc.edu
authors: Danielle L
authors: DL
authors: Beatty
authors: Thomas W
authors: TW
authors: Kamarck
authors: Karen A
authors: KA
authors: Matthews
authors: Saul
authors: S
authors: Shiffman
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012923:Social Class; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*