Childhood and adult abuse among women in primary health care: effects on mental health

Abstract

The study looked at 557 women participating in an evaluation of a domestic violence screening intervention in a primary care setting. Depression and anxiety were investigated in relation to seven types of child and adult intimate partner abuse. At the bivariate level, both physical and sexual child abuse were associated with significantly increased risk for all five types of adult abuse as well as depression and anxiety. Multivariate analyses suggested that recent intimate partner violence and high-severity child abuse increased risk for depression, and both recent and past intimate partner violence as well as child abuse increased risk for anxiety. In addition, higher levels of cumulative abuse increased risk for depression and anxiety over the life span even after controlling for other risk factors.