Childhood Abuse Impacts Adult Health: The Risks of a Lack of Parental Warmth

Childhood abuse and the lack of parental affection can last a lifetime. Now, scientists have linked this type of psychological damage to multiple health risks in adulthood. The findings reveal that abuse doesn't only take its toll mentally; it also takes its toll physically.

In order to examine the effects of childhood abuse, the researchers studied 756 adults who had participated in a study called Coronary Artery Risk Developments in Young Adults (CARDIA). In all, they measured 18 biological markers of health risk, such as blood pressure, heart rate, stress hormone, cholesterol and blood sugar regulation. The scientists added up the participants' risks across these markers to create a summary index called "allostatic load." Values at the upper range indicated that they were at a higher biological risk for disease. Next, the scientists examined the volunteers' childhood stress by using a self-report scale called the Risky Families Questionnaire.

In the end, the researchers found a significant link between reports of childhood abuse and multisystem health risks. Those who reported a good childhood and higher amounts of parental warmth, in contrast, had lower multisystem health risks.

"Our findings highlight the extent to which these early childhood experiences are associated with evidence of increased biological risks across nearly all of the body's major regulatory systems," said Teresa Seeman, one of the researchers, in a news release. "If we only look at individual biological parameters such as blood pressure or cholesterol, we would miss the fact that the early childhood experiences are related to a much broader set of biological risk indicators--suggesting the range of health risks that may result from such adverse childhood exposures."

The findings reveal that parental warmth and affection are crucial for health. More specifically, it shows that they can help children well into adulthood. This could help further research to discover how to reduce the impact abuse has.

"It is our hope that this will encourage public policy support for early interventions," said Judith E. Carroll, one of the researchers, in a news release. "If we intervene early in risk families and at places that provide care for children by educating and training parents, teachers and other caregivers in how to provide a loving and nurturing environment, we may also improve the long term health trajectories of those kids."

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.