Optimal Scaling for Early Life Stress Measurement

Authors

  • Olena P Iakunchykova National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", Ukraine
  • Tatiana I Andreeva National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5663-6225
  • Zoreslava A Shkiryak-Nizhnyk Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, Ukraine
  • Yuri G Antipkin Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, Ukraine
  • Daniel O Hryhorczuk Center for Global Health, University of Illinois College of Medicine,, United States
  • Alexander V Zvinchuk Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, Ukraine
  • Natalia V Chislovska Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, Ukraine

Keywords:

psychological stress, questionnaires, mathematical models, algorithms, scaling, statistics, computation, optimal scaling, correspondence analysis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Early life stress is associated with high risk for both negative psychological and physical health outcomes. However, many of the stressful life events inventories that have been used in epidemiological research have not been validated or checked for reliability or consistency. The aim of our study is to use optimal scaling and correspondence analysis that employ categorical principal components analysis (CATPCA) algorithm to consider the internal structure and the geometry of the space of variables obtained through the questions measuring early life stress. This approach was chosen because it allows quantification of categorical (both nominal and ordinal) scales and reduction of initial number of variables with interval quantification of the resulting dimensions.
METHODS: A questionnaire for measuring early life stress was applied to the participants of the Ukrainian component of European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood at the age of three and seven years. CATPCA algorithm was used to elaborate a tool for estimating related integral quantified characteristics.
RESULTS: Application of quantification and dimension reduction techniques to the categorical variables measuring stress in three- and seven-year-old children resulted in two dimensions.
The first dimension that accounts for a major part of initial variance and is associated with all the collected variables can be interpreted as the overall value of stress. The second dimension accounts for smaller but still considerable part of variance and can be related to child’s attachment to mother and acquiring new experience as the route of development.
CONCLUSIONS: Application of optimal scaling to the empirical data of early life stress measurement resulted in construction of two integral indicators – first measuring overall stress and second contrasting security related to child’s attachment to mother and new experiences – consistent across age groups of three and seven-year-old children.


References

ALSPAC. (October 2012). Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Questionnaires. Retrieved October, 2012, from http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/resources-available/data-details/questionnaires

Anda, R. F., Whitfield, C. L., Felitti, V. J., Chapman, D., Edwards, V. J., Dube, S. R., et al. (2002). Adverse childhood experiences, alcoholic parents, and later risk of alcoholism and depression. Psychiatr Serv, 53(8), 1001-1009.

Barnett, B. E. W., Hanna, B., & Parker, G. (1983). Life event scales for obstetric groups. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 27(4), 313-320.

Chapman, D. P., Liu, Y., Presley-Cantrell, L. R., Edwards, V. J., Wheaton, A. G., Perry, G. S., et al. (2013). Adverse childhood experiences and frequent insufficient sleep in 5 U.S. States, 2009: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Public Health, 13, 3.

Dong, M., Giles, W. H., Felitti, V. J., Dube, S. R., Williams, J. E., Chapman, D. P., et al. (2004). Insights into causal pathways for ischemic heart disease: adverse childhood experiences study. Circulation, 110(13), 1761-1766.

Dube, S. R., Felitti, V. J., Dong, M., Chapman, D. P., Giles, W. H., & Anda, R. F. (2003). Childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction and the risk of illicit drug use: the adverse childhood experiences study. Pediatrics, 111(3), 564-572.

Dube, S. R., Miller, J. W., Brown, D. W., Giles, W. H., Felitti, V. J., Dong, M., et al. (2006). Adverse childhood experiences and the association with ever using alcohol and initiating alcohol use during adolescence. J Adolesc Health, 38(4), 444 e441-410.

Eaves, L. J., Prom, E. C., & Silberg, J. L. (2010). The mediating effect of parental neglect on adolescent and young adult anti-sociality: a longitudinal study of twins and their parents. Behav Genet, 40(4), 425-437.

Enoch, M. A. (2011). The role of early life stress as a predictor for alcohol and drug dependence. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 214(1), 17-31.

Enoch, M. A., Steer, C. D., Newman, T. K., Gibson, N., & Goldman, D. (2010). Early life stress, MAOA, and gene-environment interactions predict behavioral disinhibition in children. Genes Brain Behav, 9(1), 65-74.

Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., et al. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. Am J Prev Med, 14(4), 245-258.

Fuller-Thomson, E., Filippelli, J., & Lue-Crisostomo, C. A. (2013). Gender-specific association between childhood adversities and smoking in adulthood: findings from a population-based study. Public Health.

Golding, J., Pembrey, M., & Jones, R. (2001). ALSPAC--the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. I. Study methodology. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 15(1), 74-87.

Grant, K. E., Compas, B. E., Thurm, A. E., McMahon, S. D., & Gipson, P. Y. (2004). Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: measurement issues and prospective effects. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol, 33(2), 412-425.

Greenacre, M. (2002). [Correspondence analysis of the Spanish National Health Survey]. Gac Sanit, 16(2), 160-170.

Greenacre, M. (2005). Correspondence Analysis Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral Science: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hillis, S. D., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Nordenberg, D., & Marchbanks, P. A. (2000). Adverse childhood experiences and sexually transmitted diseases in men and women: a retrospective study. Pediatrics, 106(1), E11.

Hryhorczuk, D., Dardynskaia, I., Lukyanova, E., Matwyshyn-Fuoco, M., Friedman, L., Shkiryak-Nizhnyk, Z., et al. (2009). Risk factors for wheezing in Ukrainian children: Ukraine European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood Group. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 23(4), 346-351.

Jaffee, S. R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Polo-Tomas, M., & Taylor, A. (2007). Individual, family, and neighborhood factors distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children: a cumulative stressors model. Child Abuse Negl, 31(3), 231-253.

Kerns, K. A. (1996). Individual differences in friendship quality: Links to child-mother attachment The company they keep: Friendship in childhood and adolescence (pp. 137-157). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Lazarus, R. S. (1990). Theory-based stress measurement. Psychological Inquiry, 1(1), 3-13.

Little, R. E., Monaghan, S. C., Gladen, B. C., Shkyryak-Nyzhnyk, Z. A., & Wilcox, A. J. (1999). Outcomes of 17,137 pregnancies in 2 urban areas of Ukraine. American Journal of Public Health, 89(12), 1832-1836.

Manisera, M., Van Der Kooij, A., & Dusseldorp, E. (2010). Identifying the component structure of satisfaction scales by nonlinear principal components analysis. Quality Technology & Quantitative Mangement, 7(2), 97-115.

McFarlane, A., Clark, C. R., Bryant, R. A., Williams, L. M., Niaura, R., Paul, R. H., et al. (2005). The impact of early life stress on psychophysiological, personality and behavioral measures in 740 non-clinical subjects. J Integr Neurosci, 4(1), 27-40.

Midei, A. J., & Matthews, K. A. (2011). Interpersonal violence in childhood as a risk factor for obesity: a systematic review of the literature and proposed pathways. Obes Rev, 12(5), e159-172.

Rothman, E. F., Edwards, E. M., Heeren, T., & Hingson, R. W. (2008). Adverse childhood experiences predict earlier age of drinking onset: results from a representative US sample of current or former drinkers. Pediatrics, 122(2), e298-304.

Roy, A. (2002). Childhood trauma and neuroticism as an adult: possible implication for the development of the common psychiatric disorders and suicidal behaviour. Psychol Med, 32(8), 1471-1474.

Schwarz, E., & Perry, B. (1994). The post-traumatic response in children and adolescents. The Psychiatric clinics of North America, 17(2), 311.

Strine, T. W., Dube, S. R., Edwards, V. J., Pr

ehn, A. W., Rasmussen, S., Wagenfeld, M., et al. (2012). Associations between adverse childhood experiences, psychological distress, and adult alcohol problems. Am J Health Behav, 36(3), 408-423.

Thomsen, I., Villund, O. (2011). Using Register Data to Evaluate the Effects of Proxy Interviews in the Norwegian Labour Force Survey. Journal of Official Statistics, Vol. 27(No. 1), pp. 87–98.

Verona, E., & Sachs-Ericsson, N. (2005). The intergenerational transmission of externalizing behaviors in adult participants: the mediating role of childhood abuse. J Consult Clin Psychol, 73(6), 1135-1145.

Downloads

Published

2013-06-07

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Original article