The current study assessed whether the proportion of childhood (age 0–9 years) in poverty altered the developmental trajectories (ages 9–24) of multimethodological indicators of psychological well-being. In addition, we tested whether exposure to cumulative risk over time mediated the association between poverty exposure and psychological well-being. Measures of psychological well-being included internalizing and externalizing symptoms, a behavioral index of learned helplessness (task persistence), and chronic physiological stress (allostatic load). Exposure to poverty during childhood predicted the trajectory of each development outcome: individuals with more poverty exposure during childhood showed (a) relatively high levels of internalizing symptoms that diminished more slowly with maturation, (b) relatively high levels of externalizing symptoms that increased faster over time, (c) less task persistence indicative of greater learned helplessness, and (d) higher levels of chronic physiological stress which increased faster over time relative to persons with less childhood poverty exposure. Trajectories of cumulative risk exposure from physical and psychosocial surroundings from 9–24 years accounted for the association between childhood poverty and the growth curves of internalizing and externalizing symptoms but not for learned helplessness or chronic physiological stress. Additional sensitivity analyses indicate that early childhood disadvantage is particularly problematic for each outcome, except for internalizing symptoms which seem sensitive to the combination of early and lifetime poverty exposure. We also explored whether domains of cumulative risk as well as two alternatives, maternal sensitivity or family cohesion, functioned as mediators. Little evidence emerged for any of these alternative mediating constructs.

目前的研究评估了儿童（0-9 岁）在贫困中的比例是否改变了多种心理健康指标的发展轨迹（9-24 岁）。此外，我们测试了随着时间的推移暴露于累积风险是否介导了贫困暴露与心理健康之间的关联。心理健康的衡量标准包括内化和外化症状、习得性无助的行为指数（任务持续性）和慢性生理压力（平衡负荷）。儿童时期的贫困暴露预测了每个发展结果的轨迹：儿童时期贫困暴露较多的个体表现出（a）相对较高水平的内化症状，随着成熟而逐渐减少，(b) 相对较高水平的外化症状随着时间的推移增加得更快，(c) 较少的任务持续性表明更大的习得性无助，以及 (d) 较高水平的慢性生理压力，相对于儿童贫困暴露较少的人，随着时间的推移增加得更快. 从 9-24 岁的身体和心理社会环境的累积风险暴露轨迹解释了儿童贫困与内化和外化症状的生长曲线之间的关联，但不适用于习得性无助或慢性生理压力。额外的敏感性分析表明，儿童早期的不利条件对每个结果都特别成问题，除了对早期和终生贫困暴露的组合似乎敏感的内在化症状。我们还探讨了累积风险域以及母体敏感性或家庭凝聚力这两种选择是否起到了中介作用。几乎没有出现任何这些替代中介结构的证据。