Health Risk Behaviors and Mental Health Problems as Mediators of the Relationship Between Childhood Abuse and Adult Health

Mariette Chartier · John R. Walker · Barbara J. Naimark

167 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Journal of Public Health

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Child Abuse and Trauma Intimate Partner and Family Violence Military, Security, and Education Studies

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We examined the relationship between childhood abuse and adult health risk behaviors, and we explored whether adult health risk behaviors or mental health problems mediated the relationship between childhood abuse and adult health problems and health care utilization. METHODS: We used logistic regression to analyze data from the Mental Health Supplement of the Ontario Health Survey, a representative population sample (N = 8116) of respondents aged 15 to 64 years. RESULTS: We found relationships between childhood sexual abuse and smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 1.52; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16, 1.99), alcohol problems (OR = 2.44; 95% CI = 1.74, 3.44), obesity (OR = 1.61; 95% CI = 1.14, 2.27), having more than 1 sexual partner in the previous year (OR = 2.34; 95% CI = 1.44, 3.80), and mental health problems (OR = 2.26; 95% CI = 1.78. 2.87). We also found relationships between these factors (with the exception of obesity) and childhood physical abuse. Mediation analysis suggested that health risk behaviors and particularly mental health problems are partial mediators of the relationship between childhood abuse and adult health. CONCLUSIONS: Public health approaches that aim to decrease child abuse by supporting positive parent-child relationships, reducing the development of health risk behaviors, and addressing children's mental health are likely to improve long-term population health.

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References

1998Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults 2004Validity of adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences: review of the evidence 1997Childhood adversity and adult psychiatric disorder in the US National Comorbidity Survey 1989Physical Violence in American Families, 1985 1998Long-term Effects of Nurse Home Visitation on Children's Criminal and Antisocial Behavior 2001Childhood Abuse and Lifetime Psychopathology in a Community Sample 2004Insights Into Causal Pathways for Ischemic Heart Disease 1995A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Child Abuse and Neglect

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