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TOPLINE:

Physical and verbal abuse during childhood were each associated with a greater than 50% increase in likelihood of poor mental health during adulthood, with exposure to both types of abuse compounding the risk, new research showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• The secondary analysis of seven cross-sectional surveys conducted between 2012 and 2024 included data for more than 20,000 adults living in England and Wales.
• Participants’ self-reported exposure to physical and verbal abuse before the age of 18 years using questions from an Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire. They were classified as having experienced either of the following during childhood: neither abuse type, physical abuse only, verbal abuse only, or both physical and verbal abuse.
• Child abuse was defined as an action by another child or adult that caused or was likely to cause significant harm.
• Current mental health was assessed using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale.

TAKEAWAY:

• Adults exposed to childhood physical abuse, verbal abuse, or both were more likely to have low overall mental well-being in the previous 2 weeks than those not exposed to either type of childhood abuse (odds ratio, 1.52, 1.64, and 2.15, respectively).
• The prevalence of never or rarely feeling close to other people in the last 2 weeks increased from 8% in adults exposed to neither type of abuse to 10% in those exposed to physical abuse, 14% in those exposed to verbal abuse, and 18% in those exposed to both abuse types. The prevalence of never or rarely feeling optimistic, useful, or relaxed showed similar relationships with childhood abuse.
• Men had an increased likelihood of never or rarely feeling optimistic, useful, or close to other people, whereas women had an increased likelihood of never or rarely feeling relaxed.
• The prevalence of childhood physical abuse decreased from 20% in those born between 1950 and 1979 to 10% in those born in 2000 or after. On the other hand, the prevalence of verbal abuse increased from 12% in those born before 1950 to 20% in those born between 1970 and 1979 and in every decade after.

IN PRACTICE:

“Interventions to reduce child abuse, including physical chastisement, should consider both physical and verbal abuse and their individual and combined consequences to life course health,” the investigators wrote.

“The potential role of childhood verbal abuse in escalating levels of poor mental health among younger age groups [especially] needs greater consideration,” they added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Mark A. Bellis, PhD, Public Health Institute, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Violence Prevention, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, England. It was published online on August 5 in BMJ Open.

LIMITATIONS:

Data collection relied on retrospective recall and self-reporting of verbal and physical abuse, which may have affected accuracy because of memory issues or reluctance to disclose experiences. A potential self-selective bias from non-compliance may have existed. Some participants were excluded due to incomplete survey responses, which may have affected the findings. Data on older individuals born before 1950 only represented survivors, potentially affecting representation. Additionally, the surveys did not collect comprehensive information on confounding mental health treatments possibly taken by individuals. 

DISCLOSURES:

The investigators reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.