Childhood adversity during the post-apartheid transition and COVID-19 stress independently predict adult PTSD risk in urban South Africa: A biocultural analysis of the stress sensitization hypothesis.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa introduced new societal adversities and mental health threats in a country where one in three individuals are expected to develop a psychiatric condition sometime in their life. Scientists have suggested that psychosocial stress and trauma during childhood may increase one's vulnerability to the mental health consequences of future stressors-a process known as stress sensitization. This prospective analysis assessed whether childhood adversity experienced among South African children across the first 18 years of life, coinciding with the post-apartheid transition, exacerbates the mental health impacts of psychosocial stress experienced during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (ca. 2020-2021).

Materials and methods

Data

SUBMITTER: Kim AW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10700668 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature