The far-reaching consequences of child abuse
Study shows link between early trauma experienced by mothers and health problems in their children

Date:
February 24, 2023
Source:
Charite' - Universita"tsmedizin Berlin
Summary:
Adverse childhood experiences in mothers can affect their children's
mental and physical health, as researchers report. The study
found that maltreatment during a mother's childhood is associated
with a higher risk of health problems such as asthma, autism, and
depression in the next generation. Early intervention to support
affected mothers might help to counter this effect.


Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Adverse childhood experiences in mothers can affect their
children's mental and physical health, as researchers from Charite' - Universita"tsmedizin Berlin now report in the journal The Lancet Public
Health. The study found that maltreatment during a mother's childhood is associated with a higher risk of health problems such as asthma, autism,
and depression in the next generation.

Early intervention to support affected mothers might help to counter
this effect.


========================================================================== Maltreatment during childhood is an especially serious risk factor
for health problems in the exposed individual, as it brings a host
of lifelong consequences. Among the impacts are physical, mental,
behavioral, and social ramifications that can continue through pregnancy
and parenthood. As a result, adverse experiences during the parents'
childhood can affect their own children's development and health.

Higher risk of asthma, ADHD, autism, and depression In the newly
published study, a team of researchers headed by Dr. Claudia Buss,
a professor at the Institute of Medical Psychology at Charite',
shows that health problems are more common in children of mothers who experienced maltreatment themselves as children. The researchers define maltreatment as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse or neglect by a
parent or guardian leading to physical or emotional harm or the threat of
harm to a child. They analyzed data on more than 4,300 American mothers
and their children from 21 long-term cohorts. Mothers reported on their childhood experiences and provided information on health diagnoses in
their biological children up to the age of 18, or this information was collected during visits conducted as part of the study. This valuable
trove of data extending across two generations of the same family allowed researchers to identify meaningful connections.

They found that children of mothers who reported adverse experiences
were at higher risk of asthma, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), and autism. These children also have a higher incidence of
symptoms and behaviors associated with depression and anxiety disorders,
which are known as "internalizing" disorders. Daughters of mothers in this group are also at higher risk of obesity than their sons. "All of these connections are independent of whether the mother has the same diagnosis," explains Buss, the study's lead author. "That suggests that the risk of
that particular health problem is not being transmitted genetically."
First study to cover multiple health outcomes Researchers have not
yet fully decoded the exact mechanisms by which the risk is passed on
to the next generation. There are indications that adverse childhood experiences could affect maternal biology during pregnancy, as for
example stress hormones. This can affect fetal development in a way
that the offspring become more vulnerable for impaired health. There
is evidence that biological changes like these are more pronounced in
mothers who have developed mental health problems, such as depression,
as a consequence of their traumatic experiences. If the mother's mental
health is affected by her childhood experiences, this may also impact
on how she interacts with her child once it is born, which is likely to
be just as important a factor in these multigenerational effects.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine multiple health
problems at once in relation to early trauma in mothers in a large, sociodemographically and ethnically diverse sample. That has been done primarily for individual diseases in the past," explains Dr. Nora
Moog, also from the Institute of Medical Psychology at Charite' and
first author of the publication. In keeping with this approach, the
researchers showed that children of mothers exposed to early trauma
are at greater likelihood of developing multiple physical and mental
health problems. The risk is also greater the more serious the mother's childhood experiences were. "At the same time, I should stress that
our findings do not mean that all children of mothers with adverse
childhood experiences automatically end up with health problems,"
Buss says, providing context for the group's findings. "The risk is
elevated, but it doesn't necessarily lead to a specific health problem."
Early identification and support for those affected "I assume that
appropriate support for mothers who suffer from the consequences of
childhood maltreatment can have a positive effect on their health and
well- being and that of their children. That means it's very important
to identify these mothers and children early on," Buss points out. One
way to do this would be to have doctors address parents' own childhood experiences during prenatal or pediatric checkups and provide information
on how to contact various support programs or counseling services. This
kind of early intervention could help two generations: the parent, who experienced maltreatment and may be suffering from health consequences;
and the child, who could be prevented from developing health problems.

Developing new, targeted therapeutic measures will depend on better understanding the exact mechanisms by which the elevated risk of health problems is passed on to the next generation. The research team is
currently working on that. The researchers also plan to conduct follow-up studies to investigate which children remain resilient, meaning they do
not suffer consequences beyond one generation: What makes them, their
mothers, and their social environment different? Beyond that, the father's childhood experiences have received relatively little attention so far,
but there are indications that these experiences can also be passed on
to the next generation, albeit in some cases by different mechanisms
than those involved in mother-child transmission. The researchers plan
to explore these research questions in further detail in future projects
as well.

About the study The international team of researchers analyzed the data
of 4,337 American mothers from 21 long-term cohorts with an eye to the
mothers' childhood experiences. They also examined information on health diagnoses in the mothers' biological children up to the age of 18. The
cohort data were provided by a research program named Environmental
influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). ECHO encompasses 69 cohorts
in the United States. It is supported by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH). Dr. Claudia Buss, a professor at the Institute of Medical Psychology at Charite' and adjunct professor at the Department of
Pediatrics at the University of California Irvine, led the study.

She is a principal investigator of a research group within the ECHO
consortium and has furthermore received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) and funding from the German Research Foundation
(DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Children's_Health # Mental_Health_Research # Teen_Health
o Mind_&_Brain
# Child_Psychology # Child_Development # Mental_Health
o Science_&_Society
# Public_Health # World_Development # Social_Issues
* RELATED_TERMS
o Early_childhood_education o Maternal_bond o
Postpartum_depression o Child_abuse o Public_health o
Asperger_syndrome o Breastfeeding o Health_science

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Charite'_-_Universita"tsmedizin_Berlin. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Nora K Moog, Peter D Cummings, Kathryn L Jackson, Judy L Aschner,
Emily S
Barrett, Theresa M Bastain, Courtney K Blackwell, Michelle Bosquet
Enlow, Carrie V Breton, Nicole R Bush, Sean C L Deoni, Cristiane
S Duarte, Assiamira Ferrara, Torie L Grant, Alison E Hipwell,
Kathryn Jones, Leslie D Leve, Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, Richard
K Miller, Catherine Monk, Emily Oken, Jonathan Posner, Rebecca J
Schmidt, Rosalind J Wright, Sonja Entringer, Hyagriv N Simhan,
Pathik D Wadhwa, Thomas G O'Connor, Rashelle J Musci, Claudia
Buss. Intergenerational transmission of the effects of maternal
exposure to childhood maltreatment in the USA: a retrospective
cohort study. The Lancet Public Health, 2023; 8 (3): e226 DOI:
10.1016/ S2468-2667(23)00025-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230224135044.htm

--- up 51 weeks, 4 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)