Childhood abuse and adult health: Evidence from the Canadian community health survey 2012 – Mental health

Population representative health surveys can provide a very valuable mechanism through which to explore the long-term connections between childhood maltreatment and adulthood health concerns. The Canadian Community Health... [ view full abstract ]

Population representative health surveys can provide a very valuable mechanism through which to explore the long-term connections between childhood maltreatment and adulthood health concerns. The Canadian Community Health Survey 2012 – Mental Health (CCHS) was the first-ever nationally-representative Canadian survey to include assessment of three types of childhood maltreatment (exposure to intimate partner violence, physical and sexual abuse). Because it also included assessments of health risk behaviours (e.g., smoking, alcohol abuse), mental health and mental illness, and physical health and illness, diverse careful analyses are possible. The three papers in this symposium explore mental health, comorbidity, and chronic disease (cancer) experienced by Canadians, in the context of their childhood maltreatment histories. The first paper examines individual and relationship level protective factors associated with better mental health outcomes among respondents with and without childhood maltreatment histories. The second explores medication use and comorbidity reported by Canadians, in this context. The third paper tests a mediated model of childhood maltreatment types as predictors of self-reported cancer diagnosis, when effects due to mental illness and health risk behaviours are statistically controlled. These new Canadian findings will be contextualized with existing clinical and population-representative data from other countries.