History of Abuse Associated with Poor Mental Health

Exposure to verbal and physical abuse, even in older, functionally independent women, is associated with poorer mental health, according to a new study.

Researchers at Howard University College of Medicine (Washington, DC, USA) conducted an observational cohort study at 40 clinical sites across the United States that participated in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) observational study. In all, the researchers surveyed 93,676 women (aged 50-79) using the mental health subscales and the combined mental component summary (MCS) score of the RAND Medical Outcomes Study 36-item instrument.

The researchers found that women reporting exposure to physical abuse only, verbal abuse only, or both physical and verbal abuse had a greater number of depressive symptoms and lower MCS scores than women not reporting abuse. The women also had a greater increase in the number of depressive symptoms when they reported a 3-year incident exposure to physical abuse only, or both physical and verbal abuse. They also had a decrease in MCS scores when they reported a 3-year incident exposure to physical abuse only, verbal abuse only, and both physical and verbal abuse, even after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics. The study was published in the May/June 2010 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

"Exposure to acts of abuse is a stressful event that has a negative effect on a woman's psychological well-being,” concluded lead author Charles Mouton, M.D., M.S., and colleagues of the department of community and family medicine. "For older, functionally dependent adults, the prevalence of abuse ranges from approximately 1% for physical abuse to approximately 25% for psychological abuse. As with the younger population, abuse in older women is associated with poorer health outcomes.”

"Even in this cohort of well-functioning postmenopausal women, physical and verbal abuse exposure have greater adverse effects on psychological well-being than sociodemographic factors,” the researchers added. "Furthermore, verbal abuse only had greater effects than physical abuse only. These results suggest that detecting and alleviating abusive situations may have important beneficial effects on the mental health and overall quality of life of older women.”

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Howard University College of Medicine