The Long-Term Health Consequences of Childhood Physical Abuse: Evidence from a Large Sample of Middle-Aged Men and Women

Kristen W. Springer, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Molly Carnes, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Jennifer Sheridan, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Daphne Kuo, University of Washington

In this project we explored the relationship between self-reported childhood physical abuse and adult health, and found significant detrimental effects decades after the abuse took place. We ran OLS and logistic regression analyses using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Childhood physical abuse was associated with adult depression, anxiety, anger, somatic symptoms and diagnosed medical conditions. These effects were not explained by age, sex, family background, living with a single parent, or growing up with an alcoholic. We also explored four pathways through which abuse might affect adult physical health: emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social. We found that these pathways did indeed mediate some of the relationship between childhood abuse and the number of symptoms or diagnosed medical conditions. In sum, we found that childhood physical abuse has negative health consequences even into midlife.