Childhood Abuse and Chronic Physical Health Conditions in Adulthood: A Longitudinal Analysis of Familial Support and Strain as Mediators

Parentally perpetrated childhood abuse is associated with physical health difficulties and familial support and strain may be possible mediators. Further, the associations among parentally perpetrated abuse in childhood, familial relationships in adulthood, and health may vary across age and gender. The current study examined familial support and strain over a 20-year period as mediators linking childhood abuse to chronic health conditions among adults, and examined gender and age as moderators. Using three waves of data from the study of Midlife Development in the United States (n = 2,377), results from a structural equation mediational model indicated that familial strain mediated the relationship between child abuse and chronic physical health problems for both men and women. On the other hand, familial support was not a mediator. Gender and age did not moderate any of the pathways. Continued relational stress over the life course appears to predict physical morbidity among adults who were abused in childhood. Clinicians may want to focus on familial strain when working with midlife and older men and women.