Adversidade na infância, características psicológicas e problemas de saúde física: comparação entre obesos e não obesos

Variables associated with family breakdown in healthy and obese/ overweigh adolescents

“…Felitti et al ( 27 ) , in turn, reported that, in relation to the adverse family experiences, these are quite common in obese and less frequent in non-obese subjects. In yet another study, conducted by Silva and Maia ( 28 ) with 144 obese and non-obese patients, seeking to investigate aspects of family adversity related to obesity, it was found that, in the category substance abuse, more than half the obese participants reported the occurrence of this experience in their families. In the group of non-obese participants, this situation was reported by only 18% of the sample.…”

“…In this study, when the obese group was compared to the eutrophic group regarding substance abuse by a family member, there were statistically significant differences ( p <0.001). Silva and Maia ( 28 ) also investigated issues relating to the imprisonment of a family member, demonstrating significant differences between the groups of obese and non-obese ( p =0.001). These data reinforce the idea of a high comorbidity between experiences of adversity, and the presence of certain family conditions (such as violence, alcohol, or mental illness) can be factors that lead to greater individual adversity.…”

“…Thus, for each subject, we added the number of responses that indicated presence of the family breakdown factor and we quantified the number of possible factors that each individual had. A study conducted by Silva and Maia ( 28 ) , with 144 obese and non-obese patients, found that only 12% of obese participants did not report any type of adversity in childhood, i.e., 88% reported at least one experience of adversity. About 47% of these participants reported five or more experiences of adversity during childhood.…”

“…Another important aspect relates to the method chosen to collect data. A Portuguese study ( 28 ) , for instance, sought to associate the existence of family adversities with overweight/ obesity and found statistically significant results for violence, alcohol, mental illness, substance abuse, prison, among others. A possible explanation for such significant results is the study design, which was retrospective descriptive, i.e., it assessed the effect of a previous cause.…”

“…Felitti et al ( 27 ) , por sua vez, referem que, quanto às experiências de adversidade no ambiente familiar, estas são bastante frequentes nos sujeitos obesos e menos frequentes nos não obesos. E, ainda, em estudo realizado por Silva e Maia ( 28 ) com 144 pacientes obesos e não obesos, buscando-se investigar aspectos de adversidade familiar relacionados à obesidade, constatou-se que, na categoria abuso de substâncias, pouco mais da metade dos participantes obesos relatou a ocorrência dessa experiência em sua família. No grupo de participantes não obesos, essa situação foi relatada por apenas 18% da amostra.…”