One way childhood trauma leads to poorer health for women
Adversity linked to having births earlier and outside marriage
September 17, 2019
Science Daily/Ohio State University
Researchers have long known that childhood trauma is linked to poorer health for women at midlife. A new study shows one important reason why.
The national study of more than 3,000 women is the first to find that those who experienced childhood trauma were more likely than others to have their first child both earlier in life and outside of marriage -- and that those factors were associated with poorer health later in life.
The findings have implications for public programs to prevent teen pregnancy, said Kristi Williams, lead author of the study and professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.
These results suggest that early trauma -- such as the death of a parent, physical abuse or emotional neglect -- may affect young people's decision-making in ways that they can't entirely control.
"It's easy to tell teens that they shouldn't have kids before marriage, but the message won't be effective if they haven't developed the capacity to do that because of trauma they experienced in childhood," Williams said.
"It may be necessary to do different kinds of interventions and do them when children are younger."
Williams conducted the study with Brian Karl Finch of the University of Southern California. Their results were published today (Sept. 17, 2019) in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Early childhood trauma is "shockingly" common in the United States, the researchers said in the study. One national study conducted between 1995 and 1997 found that only 36 percent of respondents reported having no such adverse childhood experiences.
Other research has shown that childhood trauma is strongly associated with multiple health risks, including cancer, diabetes, stroke and early death, Williams said. Much of this work has focused on how early adversity may have biological and neurological effects that would lead to worse health throughout life.
"But there hasn't been any attention given to how childhood adversity may affect social and developmental processes in adolescence and young adulthood -- factors that we know are also strong predictors of later health," she said.
One of those factors in women is the timing and context of first birth.
Data for this new study came from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which includes a representative sample of people who were aged 14 to 22 in 1979. The NLSY is run by Ohio State's Center for Human Resource Research.
Participants were interviewed every year through 1994 and once every two years since. The final sample for this study included 3,278 women.
Each participant reported whether she experienced one or more of six adverse childhood experiences before age 18: emotional neglect, physical abuse, alcoholism in the home, mental illness in the home, death of a biological parent and parental absence.
The researchers examined data on how old each participant was when she first gave birth and whether she was married, cohabiting or neither at the time.
Finally, participants rated their health at or near age 40.
Findings showed that each additional childhood trauma experienced by the participants was associated with earlier age at first birth and a greater probability for a first birth during adolescence or young adulthood compared to later (age 25 to 39).
In addition, each additional trauma was associated with a 24 percent increase in the probability of being unmarried and not cohabiting at first birth compared to the likelihood that they were married when their first child was born.
The researchers then conducted statistical tests that showed early and non-marital births were a key reason why children who experienced trauma were more likely to report poorer health at midlife.
"It is the idea of 'chains of risk' -- one thing leads to another," Williams said.
"Childhood trauma leads to social and biological risks that lead to early and nonmarital birth which can lead to health problems later in life."
The findings also cast doubt on the notion that childbearing decisions are the result only of the culture in which children grow up, she said.
Some policymakers have claimed that some people don't value marriage enough, and if they were just encouraged not to have kids until after they're married, they would be better off, Williams said.
"You can promote this 'success sequence' -- go to college, get a job, get married and have a child -- exactly in that order. But the reason some people don't do that isn't just cultural, it is structural," Williams said.
"When people experience traumas early in life, it makes it less likely that they will be able to make those positive choices."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190917115436.htm
For kids who face trauma, good neighbors or teachers can save their longterm health
September 16, 2019
Science Daily/Brigham Young University
New research shows just how important positive childhood experiences are for our long-term health -- especially for those who experience significant adversity as a child.
Studies over the past 20 years have found a correlation between the number of adverse childhood events (such as death or divorce) and worse health outcomes later in life. A new study from professor Ali Crandall and other Brigham Young University coauthors discovered that positive childhood experiences -- like having good neighbors, regular meals or a caregiver you feel safe with -- have the potential to negate harmful health effects caused by adverse childhood experiences.
"If your child has experienced trauma and you're worried about the long-term impact it could have on them, these findings show that the positive experiences in childhood lead to better adult physical and mental health, no matter what they have faced," said Crandall, assistant professor of public health at BYU.
Specifically, the study found that even when an individual had four or more adverse childhood experiences (called ACEs), having a high number of advantageous childhood experiences (Counter-ACEs) lessened the negative effect of ACEs on adult health. This is significant because the landmark 1998 ACEs study concluded that having four or more ACEs in childhood greatly increases negative health outcomes, including higher BMI, smoking rates, depression and chronic health conditions.
BYU study participants reported the number of ACEs and Counter-ACEs they experienced in childhood. ACEs include abuse, abandonment, having a family member in jail, alcoholism, mental illness, addiction, divorce or death. The full list of Counter-ACEs includes having good friends and neighbors, beliefs that provide comfort, liking school, teachers who care, having a caregiver whom you feel safe with, opportunities to have fun, feeling comfortable with yourself and a predictable home routine like regular meals and bedtimes.
Accoring to the study findings, published recently in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, nearly 75 percent of participants had at least one adverse childhood experience, while the average amount of ACEs was 2.67 per person. The average positive experience score was 8.15, with 39 percent of people having experienced all 10 of those Counter-ACEs.
Participants also reported their current health through a variety of physical measures -- like BMI, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical exercise, sleep difficulties and if they smoked daily -- as well as their cognitive and mental health through executive functioning abilities, perceived stress, depression, internal locus of control, gratitude, forgiveness of self and challenging situations and familial closeness. Interestingly, researchers also found that the absence of Counter-ACEs led to poor adult health regardless of the number of ACEs.
"As bad as ACEs may be, the absence of these positive childhood experiences and relationships may actually be more detrimental to lifelong health so we need more focus on increasing the positive," Crandall said.
While many of the adverse childhood experiences in this study are affected by a child's family situation, Crandall said that "other adults in a child's life that are not the parent, like extended family, teachers, neighbors, friends and youth leaders all help to increase the number of counter ACEs and boosts lifelong health."
Crandall believes that increasing counter-ACES in the home is the easiest place to start and is working to educate the community about how to do this in conjunction with United Way. BYU professors Brianna Magnusson, Len Novilla, Carl Hanson and Michael Barnes were coauthors on the study.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916144004.htm
Is anxiety in childhood and adolescence linked to later alcohol use disorders?
March 20, 2019
Science Daily/Wiley
In an Addiction analysis of relevant published studies, investigators found some evidence for a positive association between anxiety during childhood and adolescence with later alcohol use disorders.
Approximately 43 percent of associations were positive, meaning that anxiety was associated with a higher likelihood of later alcohol use disorders; however, 11 percent of associations were negative, with anxiety being associated with a lower likelihood of later alcohol use disorders. Approximately 30 percent of associations were equivocal and 15 percent were unclassifiable based on the information reported.
The authors of the analysis noted that it is important to establish which anxious individuals consume more alcohol and develop alcohol use disorders in order to develop targeted interventions.
"The evidence from prospective cohort studies is suggestive but not conclusive of a positive association between anxiety during childhood and adolescence and subsequent alcohol use disorder," said lead author Maddy Dyer, of the University of Bristol, in the UK. "Associations of anxiety with later drinking frequency or quantity and binge drinking were inconsistent. Further research is needed to understand why there are differences in associations for consumption levels versus problematic use, and to determine which individuals with anxiety develop alcohol problems."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190320102030.htm