Table 1.
Baseline characteristics stratified by number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), STAR
| Characteristic | Overall sample | 0 ACEs | 1 ACE | 2 ACEs | 3 ACEs | 4+ ACEs |
| N (%) or mean (SD) | ||||||
| No of participants | 707 (100) | 151 (21.4) | 167 (23.6) | 148 (20.0) | 122 (17.3) | 119 (16.8) |
| Baseline age | 68.6 (8.7) | 69.1 (8.2) | 69.0 (8.4) | 68.9 (9.2) | 68.8 (9.6) | 66.7 (8.2) |
| Sex: men | 220 (31.1) | 46 (30.5) | 56 (33.5) | 51 (34.5) | 38 (31.2) | 29 (24.4) |
| College graduate or more | 252 (35.6) | 51 (33.8) | 60 (35.9) | 54 (36.5) | 44 (36.1) | 43 (36.1) |
| Some college | 333 (47.1) | 67 (44.4) | 83 (49.7) | 72 (48.7) | 56 (45.9) | 55 (46.2) |
| High school or less | 122 (17.3) | 33 (21.9) | 24 (14.4) | 22 (14.9) | 22 (18.0) | 21 (17.7) |
| Parent education: more than high school | 267 (37.8) | 63 (41.7) | 59 (35.3) | 54 (36.5) | 43 (35.3) | 48 (40.3) |
| ACEs | N (column % per variables) | |||||
| Parents were separated or divorced | 272 (38.5) | 0 | 30 (18.0) | 63 (42.6) | 73 (59.8) | 106 (89.1) |
| Serious illness of a family member | 250 (35.4) | 0 | 44 (26.4) | 67 (45.3) | 64 (52.5) | 75 (63.0) |
| Witnessed domestic violence | 223 (31.5) | 0 | 37 (22.2) | 41 (27.7) | 60 (49.2) | 85 (71.4) |
| Substance abuse by a family member | 172 (24.3) | 0 | 18 (10.8) | 35 (23.7) | 41 (33.6) | 78 (65.6) |
| Parent remarried | 176 (24.9) | 0 | 2 (1.2) | 39 (26.4) | 58 (47.6) | 77 (64.7) |
| Loss of job by a parent | 106 (15.0) | 0 | 23 (13.8) | 19 (12.8) | 23 (18.9) | 41 (34.5) |
| Death of your father | 70 (9.9) | 0 | 8 (4.8) | 18 (12.2) | 19 (15.6) | 25 (21.0) |
| Parent had to go to jail | 53 (7.5) | 0 | 2 (1.2) | 4 (2.7) | 10 (8.2) | 37 (31.1) |
| Death of your mother | 42 (5.9) | 0 | 3 (1.8) | 10 (6.8) | 18 (14.8) | 11 (9.2) |
| Childhood social support | N (column % per variables) or mean (SD) | |||||
| Composite childhood support (range 0–20) | 15.8 (4.7) | 17.1 (4.2) | 16.4 (4.3) | 15.3 (4.7) | 14.5 (4.8) | 14.9 (5.1) |
| Someone to trust and confide in most to all the times | 537 (75.7) | 125 (82.8) | 136 (81.4) | 104 (70.3) | 87 (71.3) | 83 (69.8) |
| Someone to love most to all the times | 611 (86.4) | 143 (94.7) | 149 (89.2) | 125 (84.5) | 96 (78.7) | 98 (82.4) |
| Someone to help with homework most to all the times | 466 (65.9) | 121 (80.1) | 118 (70.6) | 91 (61.49) | 65 (53.3) | 71 (59.1) |
| Someone to motivate and encourage in school most to all the times | 559 (79.1) | 135 (89.4) | 145 (86.8) | 107 (72.3) | 87 (71.3) | 85 (71.4) |
| Had contact with someone felt close to most or all the times | 547 (77.4) | 126 (83.4) | 138 (82.6) | 112 (75.7) | 87 (71.3) | 84 (70.6) |
| Childhood socioeconomic status | N (column % per variables) | |||||
| Family financially above average or well-off | 483 (68.3) | 125 (82.8) | 120 (71.9) | 101 (68.2) | 70 (57.4) | 67 (56.3) |
| Never hungry during childhood | 650 (91.9) | 146 (96.7) | 157 (94.0) | 131 (88.5) | 110 (90.2) | 106 (89.1) |
| Family had a mortgage or owned a home during childhood | 444 (62.8) | 118 (78.2) | 111 (66.5) | 94 (63.5) | 65 (53.3) | 56 (47.1) |
Childhood social support: composite childhood support derived from individual childhood social support (range 0=no support, 20=most support).
Individual childhood supports are on Likert scale (1=none of the time, 2=a little of the time, 3=some of the time, 4=most of the time, 5=all of the time).
STAR, Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans.