A Prospective Investigation of Physical Health Outcomes in Abused and Neglected Children: New Findings From a 30-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

Child abuse and neglect affect long-term health status-increasing risk for diabetes, lung disease, malnutrition, and vision problems-and support the need for early health care prevention.

Childhood and Adolescent Adversity and Cardiometabolic Outcomes: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

“…[62][63][64][65][66][67] A recent systematic review noted that mental disorders were a partial mediator of the association between childhood maltreatment and cardiometabolic disease 16 but concluded that the findings should be interpreted with some caution because studies varied greatly in terms of how they modeled effects of mental disorders (eg, statistical models varied in their treatment of time, in combination with other disorders, or with health behaviors). 24,27,28,30,68,69 Many childhood adversities, including childhood maltreatment and exposure to violence, are traumatic events that may result in posttraumatic stress disorder in some individuals. Although investigators have examined posttraumatic stress disorder in relation to a range of health outcomes (including rheumatoid arthritis, stroke, heart disease, and cancer), some of the strongest empirical research, in terms of methodology and findings, has been with cardiometabolic diseases.…”

“…127 Longitudinal designs are increasing in frequency, and a few longitudinal studies have assessed adversity in childhood and/or adolescence. 4,9,10,29,68,109,111,[128][129][130][131] As an example, the British National Child Development Study, a 50-year longitudinal study, assessed experiences of bullying when children were between 7 and 11 years of age. Bullying was associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein in midlife and, among women, with obesity in midlife.…”

Harsh Physical Punishment in Childhood and Adult Physical Health

“…10,11 Child maltreatment has also been linked to physical symptoms such as pain, physical health conditions including disability, poor or fair self-rated health, and frequent emergency department visits. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Infants experiencing frequent physical punishment have been shown to have high hormonal reactivity to stress. 25 It could be that children experience cumulative exposure to physical punishment as psychologically and physically stressful, which is the case for child maltreatment.…”

A Philosophical Examination of Social Justice and Child Poverty

“…Its immediate damage is, of course, severe and its impact on the child's well-being disastrous. However, the full picture of its moral harm can be evaluated only if we take into account its impact on the child's future life, in relation, for instance, to health problems, social status, economic well-being and a range of psychiatric disorders (Lanius, Vermetten and Pain 2010;Widom et al 2012;Currie and Widom 2010), all of which reduce a person's well-being, including the faculty of self-government and the effective pursuit of a life plan. In our argument about the injustice of child poverty, which we will develop in detail in the next chapter, it will therefore also be crucial to look at aspects of children's lives that have particularly positive or negative effects in the long run.…”