Adult characteristics associated with childhood abuse had been a subject of research for a long time now. A recent study led by Amy Bonomi, associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University claims to find what no study has found so ever. The researchers found that women belonging to the average age of late 40s still bear consequences of the abuse which happened decades ago in their lives.

Childhood Abuse

It studied data of more than 3,000 women who belonged to Group Health, a health care system in the Pacific Northwest. It concluded that the middle-aged women who suffered some kind of child abuse tend to spend one-third more of money than average on health-care.

Child abuse can be of various kinds ranging from physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, sexual abuse etc. Physical and sexual abuses are the most visible forms of abuse and carry consequences which influence the adult life too. When they compared the results among 3,000 women, they found that the women who had no history of abuse spent much lesser amount on health care that the women who had been victim of sexual or physical abuse in the childhood.

Other factors which were taken into account were age and education which also influence the use of health care to a large extent. Amy Bonomi says “We are able to say pretty confidently that it was the abuse itself that is driving higher health care use and costs in these women.”

This study claims to offer the most comprehensive and accurate evidence on the links of childhood abuse to higher costs of health care incurred by adult women. As compared to previous studies done on the similar lines, it took into account the complete health care data along with the physician visits and pharmacy use as compared to the other studies which simply depended upon the health care reports submitted by the participants.

The women who have encountered abuse in the childhood are more likely to be suffering from depression leading to other health complications and physical diseases like obesity.
The health care data which formed the basis of the study clearly showed that women who had been victimized of both the kinds of abuse, sexual as well as physical had been utilizing health care services in the fields of mental health, emergency department visits, pharmacy fills, hospital outpatient and primary care. Those who had been only exposed to either one of the kinds used the services in four different areas.

This study puts stress on the significance of designing more relevant child abuse prevention programs. It has also lent a new direction to this subject of research as it invokes an interest to study people with high levels of use of health care services to study their childhood incidences.

The study, funded by the ‘Federal Agency for Healthcare Research’ and ‘Quality’, at present focused upon the women group to establish the link between the childhood abuse and the use of health care services, however in nearby future, they are planning to conduct a similar research for adult men too.

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