Linking a History of Childhood Abuse to Adult Health among Canadians: A Structural Equation Modelling Analysis

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 16; no. 11; p. 1942
• Main Authors: Cameranesi, Margherita, Lix, Lisa M, Piotrowski, Caroline C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 31.05.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Abuse; Adolescent; Adult; Adult Survivors of Child Abuse - statistics & numerical data; Adults; Aged; Arthritis; Canada - epidemiology; Cancer; Cardiovascular diseases; Child abuse & neglect; Child Abuse - psychology; Child sexual abuse; Childhood factors; Children; Children & youth; Cigarette smoking; Cognitive development; Criminal investigations; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Domestic violence; Drinking behavior; Drug use; Everyday life; Female; Gastrointestinal diseases; Gender aspects; Gender differences; Health services; Health Status; Health surveys; History; Humans; Intimate Partner Violence - psychology; Latent Class Analysis; Male; Mens health; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Mental Health - statistics & numerical data; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Middle Aged; Models, Theoretical; Multivariate statistical analysis; Obesity; Pain; Physical Abuse - psychology; Post traumatic stress disorder; Protective factors; Risk factors; Sex crimes; Sex differences; Sex Factors; Sexual assault; Smoking; Social interactions; Social Support; Socioeconomic Factors; Stress; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Structural equation modeling; Studies; Suicide; Suicides & suicide attempts; Womens health; Young Adult; Canada; path analysis; life course health development; child abuse; family/domestic violence; structural equation modelling; adult survivor
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16111942

A history of childhood abuse has been linked to serious and long-lasting problems in adulthood. We developed two theoretical models concerning how early adverse experiences affect health in adulthood, and we tested the empirical fit of the two models in a population-based representative sample of Canadian adults (N = 25,113) using a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique, path analysis. The first model included direct pathways by which a history of three types of childhood abuse-exposure to intimate partner violence, physical abuse, and sexual abuse-affected adult physical and mental health, as well as indirect pathways by which perceived social support and everyday life stress acted as mediators of these associations. The second model included only indirect pathways and tested mediating effects. Global statistics indicated that both models were a good fit to the data, and local statistics supported the hypothesized associations between independent, dependent, and mediator variables.