IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2007.122408_4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health risk behaviors and mental health problems as mediators of the relationship between childhood abuse and adult health

Author

Listed:
  • Chartier, M.J.
  • Walker, J.R.
  • Naimark, B.

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Chartier, M.J. & Walker, J.R. & Naimark, B., 2009. "Health risk behaviors and mental health problems as mediators of the relationship between childhood abuse and adult health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(5), pages 847-854.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2007.122408_4
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.122408
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2007.122408
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2007.122408?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Valdez-Santiago, Rosario & Híjar, Martha & Rojas Martínez, Rosalba & Ávila Burgos, Leticia & Arenas Monreal, María de la Luz, 2013. "Prevalence and severity of intimate partner violence in women living in eight indigenous regions of Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 51-57.
    2. Mai Stafford & Catharine R Gale & Gita Mishra & Marcus Richards & Stephanie Black & Diana L Kuh, 2015. "Childhood Environment and Mental Wellbeing at Age 60-64 Years: Prospective Evidence from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-12, June.
    3. McSherry, Dominic & Fargas Malet, Montserrat & Weatherall, Kerrylee, 2016. "Comparing long-term placements for young children in care: Does placement type really matter?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 56-66.
    4. Sigrun Sigurdardottir & Sigridur Halldorsdottir, 2018. "Screaming Body and Silent Healthcare Providers: A Case Study with a Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivor," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Brown, Adam & Courtney, Mark E. & Curtis McMillen, J., 2015. "Behavioral health needs and service use among those who've aged-out of foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 163-169.
    6. Park, Aely & Kim, Youngmi, 2018. "The longitudinal influence of child maltreatment on child obesity in South Korea: The mediating effects of low self-esteem and depressive symptoms," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 34-40.
    7. Zi-Yu Wang & Ming Hu & Tao-Lin Yu & Jun Yang, 2019. "The Relationship between Childhood Maltreatment and Risky Sexual Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-17, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2007.122408_4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.