The relation between adverse childhood experiences and fostering health behaviors in adult women

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAdversity in early childhood plays a central role in health outcomes later in life. Social determinants of health, such as environment, play a role in lifestyle habits developed and possessed throughout adulthood. The more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) an individual has, the more likely they are to have negative physical and mental health outcomes (Sacks & Murphey, 2018).MethodData was collected in a larger cohort study assessing biomarkers in women between the age of 65‐85. Among the 232 women, two groups were recruited: individuals with 0 ACEs and individuals with 3 or more ACEs. Survey data was collected from participants and analyzed using SPSS Version 28. Health lifestyle was measured using the Health‐Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP‐II; Walker, et al., 1987). The HPLP‐II has six subscales: health responsibility, nutrition, spiritual growth, physical activity, stress management, and interpersonal relations. ACEs were measured with the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (Felitti et al., 1998) and addressed three categories of adversity: abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction (HD).ResultThe 87 participants who had zero ACEs (M = 2.56, SD = 0.46) compared to the 145 participants with three or more ACEs (M = 2.18, SD = 0.41) demonstrated significantly higher HPLP‐II scores indicating that healthier behaviors are performed more frequently for those with zero ACEs, t(230) = 6.65, p<.001. All of the multiple linear regressions were overall statistically significant (HPLP‐II (R2 = .17, F(3, 228) = 16.44, p<.001); health responsibility (R2 = .07, p< 001); physical activity (R2 = .05, p = .002); nutrition (R2 = .07, p<.001); spiritual growth (R2 = .17, p<.001); interpersonal relationships (R2 = .13, p<.001); stress management (R2 = .12, p<.001)). Neglect and HD significantly predicted overall HPLP‐II ((β = ‐.21, p = .012); (β = ‐.19, p = .008)) and interpersonal relationships ((β = ‐.23, p = .008); (β = ‐.23, p = .003)). HD significantly predicted health responsibility (β = ‐.18, p = .022) and nutrition (β = ‐.22, p = .005). Neglect significantly predicted spiritual growth (β = ‐.25, p = .003). Abuse significantly predicted stress management (β = ‐.17, p = .05), and was trending in predicting physical activity (β = ‐.16, p = .078).ConclusionACEs play a significant role in future health behaviors, with household dysfunction being the largest predictor.