3737 - EARLY LIFE ADVERSITY AND ANGER IN INDIA

Session: 3722 - PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF WIDENING INEQUALITIES AND ITS IMPACT ON WELLBEING
AUTHORS:
Suchday Sonia (Pace University ~ New York ~ United States of America)
Abstract text:
Inequity is the underbelly of Globalization and has grown exponentially with accelerated pace of globalization. Inequity has increased between people, communities, and even nations. Early life adversity(ELA) frequently accompanied by paucity of resources is enhanced by inequity. Both ELA and inequity may lead to increased anger and resentment among young people, particularly as they are exposed to inequity in their proximal environment and distant lands through the internet. The current presentation will discuss data from our lab collected among undergraduate students in Mumbai, India (n = 317; age = 19 years; 243 females; 131 Hindu, 123 Christian/Catholic/Protestant, Islam 20, Jain 14, Zoroastrian 9, Buddhist 5, Jewish 1, Others 12, missing 2). Participants completed measures of anger and ELA. Data indicated that early life adversity was associated with multiple aspects of anger including trait anger, anger rumination, and the regulation of anger - both expression and suppression. In a related study in our lab (Santoro et al, 2020), data indicated that early life adversity predicted anger, stress, and health among young Asian Indian immigrants (n=132; Mean Age=23.5 years). Increased anger among young people may have significant repercussions in their personal lives leading to isolation and poor health. Impact of anger on communities is multifaced, with direct effects including the rise of conflict and indirect effects such as increased health care costs and loss of productive life years.