Protective Factors for the Impact of Daily Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mental Health Disorders in the Early Life Course

This study aims to clarify what kind of social relationships and social support would reduce mental health problems if multiple adversities in childhood have a long-term negative impact on mental health in adulthood. Progress in understanding how multiple childhood adversities affect later health inequalities has been made in recent years. Previous research has focused on acute or exceptionally high levels of risk factors (e.g., parental abuse or death of a parent). However, it has been suggested that low-level everyday risk factors at work, home, and in the community (e.g., poverty, being a victim of bullying at school) have not been adequately considered and that the range of experiences included in childhood adversity is narrow. Therefore, this study examined the impact of adverse childhood experiences, such as social aspects (victimization by bullying at school and bad atmosphere at home at age 15) and economic aspects (material deprivation at age 15 and subjective poverty at age 15), on mental health problems in adulthood. The study also identified which social relationships and social supports can be protective factors in reducing long-term mental health problems in adulthood.