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Women's experience of abuse in childhood and their children's smoking and overweight.

ABSTRACT: Smoking and overweight are principal determinants of poor health for which individual-level interventions are at best modestly effective. This limited effectiveness may be partly because these risk factors are patterned by parents' experiences preceding the individual's birth.To determine whether women's experience of abuse in childhood was associated with smoking and overweight in their children.In 2012, data were linked from two large longitudinal cohorts of women (Nurses' Health Study II [NHSII], n=12,666) and their children (Growing Up Today [GUTS] Study, n=16,774), 1989-2010. ORs of children following higher-risk smoking trajectories and risk ratios (RRs) of children's overweight and obesity by their mother's childhood experience of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse were calculated. The extent to which mother's smoking and overweight, socioeconomic indicators, family characteristics, and child's abuse exposure accounted for possible associations was ascertained.Children of women who experienced severe childhood abuse had greater likelihood of higher-risk smoking trajectories (OR=1.40, 95% CI=1.21, 1.61), overweight (RR=1.21, 95% CI=1.11, 1.33), and obesity (RR=1.45, 95% CI=1.21, 1.74) across adolescence and early adulthood compared with children of women who reported no abuse. Mother's smoking and overweight and children's abuse exposure accounted for more than half of the elevated risk of following the highest-risk smoking trajectory and overweight in children of women abused.These findings raise the possibility that childhood abuse may not only adversely affect the health of the direct victim but may also affect health risk factors in her children decades after the original traumatic events.

SUBMITTER: Roberts AL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3962663 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Women's experience of abuse in childhood and their children's smoking and overweight.

Roberts Andrea L AL Galea Sandro S Austin S Bryn SB Corliss Heather L HL Williams Michelle A MA Koenen Karestan C KC Koenen Karestan C KC

American journal of preventive medicine 20140301 3

<h4>Background</h4>Smoking and overweight are principal determinants of poor health for which individual-level interventions are at best modestly effective. This limited effectiveness may be partly because these risk factors are patterned by parents' experiences preceding the individual's birth.<h4>Purpose</h4>To determine whether women's experience of abuse in childhood was associated with smoking and overweight in their children.<h4>Methods</h4>In 2012, data were linked from two large longitud ...[more]

PMID: 24512863

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Project description:This study examined how different forms of childhood family victimization are associated with the attitudinal (not actual action) refusal of wife abuse among women and men in rural Bangladesh. It included 1,929 randomly selected married women and men. Of the sample, 31.3% (Men = 49.3%, Women = 13.5%) attitudinally refused overall wife abuse, 38.5% (Men = 53.2%, Women = 23.8%) refused emotional abuse, 67.0% (Men = 82.5%, Women = 51.6%) refused physical abuse, 78.0% (Men = 88.6%, Women = 67.4%) refused abuse on wife's disobeying family obligations, and 32.3% (Men = 50.3%, Women = 14.6%) refused abuse on challenging male authority. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that the odds ratio (ORs) of the attitudinal refusal of overall wife abuse were 1.75 (p = .041) for the childhood non-victims of emotional abuse and 2.31 (p < .001) for the victims of mild emotional abuse, compared to the victims of severe emotional abuse. On the other hand, the ORs of the overall refusal of abuse were 1.84 (p = .031) for the non-victims of physical abuse and 1.29 (p = .465) for the victims of mild physical abuse, compared to the childhood victims of severe physical abuse. Data further revealed that the childhood non-victimization of physical abuse increased all types of attitudinal refusal of wife abuse, e.g., emotional abuse, physical abuse, abuse on disobeying family obligations, and abuse on challenging male authority. Compared to the childhood experiences of severe emotional abuse, data also indicated that childhood exposure to mild emotional abuse might increase the attitudinal refusal of wife abuse on a few issues, e.g., abuse on disobeying family obligations, abuse on challenging male authority, and physical abuse. It appeared that childhood experiences of family victimization greatly influence different types of attitudinal refusal of wife abuse. We argue that the issue of childhood victimization should be brought to the forefront in the discourse. We recommend that state machinery and social welfare agencies should expend significant efforts to stop child abuse within the family and in other areas of society in rural Bangladesh.

Dataset Information

Women's experience of abuse in childhood and their children's smoking and overweight.

Publications

Women's experience of abuse in childhood and their children's smoking and overweight.

Similar Datasets

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