What is it about?
Childhood Maltreatment can influence chronic health conditions over time through more negative and less positive current day relationship with family members and higher levels of stress. Survivors of child maltreatment perceive their family members to be less supportive and more conflictual, which creates considerable stress. More negative relationships with family members increases stress which can increase the number of chronic health conditions.
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Why is it important?
Chronic health conditions are economically, socially, and emotionally taxing and can constrain quality of life. Understanding factors that increase chronic health conditions can begin to identify possible remedies can improve the health and wellbeing of adults, leading to more successful aging.
Perspectives
Recognizing that our familial relationships can influence our physical health is extremely important. More specifically, it can either be a risk factor with relationships are more negative, but a protective factor when they are more positive. These relationships are even more important when there is childhood trauma, which is likely to have a longstanding influence on how survivors relate to their family members who were the perpetrators, knowledgeable about the trauma but failed to intercede, or those who were genuinely supportive and responsive. Continuing to understand the nuance between survivors of maltreatment and current day relationships with family members could provide rich information that can be translated into clinical practice in an attempt to reduce poor health outcomes
Michael Fitzgerald
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Serial indirect effects from childhood maltreatment to adult chronic health conditions through contemporary family relationships and mental health problems: Inquiry into sleep disturbances and stress., Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy, March 2023, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/tra0001469.
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