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Children risk ‘fatal’ development if mothers have been subject to abuse

A new, first-of-its-kind study has uncovered that children are more likely to suffer with asthma, ADHD, autism or depression if their mother has experienced maltreatment.

A team of researchers, headed by Dr Claudia Buss – a professor at the institute of Medical Psychology at Charité, Berlin – analysed data from more than 4,000 American mothers and their children.

woman in gray shirt covering her face with her hair

Mothers reported on their childhood experiences and provided information on health diagnoses in their biological children up to the age of 18. Equally, if the women who took part in the research programme did not feel comfortable with this, information was collected during visits that were conducted as part of the study.

Experts found that children of mothers who reported experiencing physical, emotional, or sexual abuse or neglect from a parent or guardian, have an increased risk of developing asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism.

These children are also at risk of developing behaviours associated with depression and anxiety disorders. Researchers also discovered daughters of mothers who have fallen victim to abuse, are more likely to suffer with obesity.

Dr Claudia Buss said: ‘All of these connections are independent of whether the mother has the same diagnosis.

‘That suggests that the risk of that particular health problem is not being transmitted genetically.’

Researchers are yet to pinpoint the exact mechanisms on how the risk is passed on to the next generation – they have made suggestions that adverse childhood experiences could affect maternal biology during pregnancy, for example, stress hormones.

Dr Nora Moog, from the Institute of Medical Psychology at Charité, said: ‘To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine multiple health problems at once in relation to early trauma in mothers at large, sociodemographically and ethnically diverse sample.’

Commenting on the findings, Dr Moog claims there is a pattern of children being exposed to early trauma are at a greater risk of developing multiple physical and mental health problems. However, Dr Moog does note that just because some children have come from mothers who have unfortunately experienced abuse, ‘it doesn’t necessarily lead to a specific health problem.’

In a bid to help children, Dr Buss suggests if support was provided for mothers who have experienced a form of abuse, this would also have a positive impact on their offspring. A method Dr Buss puts forward is having doctors address parents’ own childhood traumas during prenatal or paediatric check-ups and provide a vast amount of information about how to access support programmes or counselling.

However, research reported by Kings College London has outlined that since the pandemic, there has been a lack of support available for women who have experienced domestic abuse. Findings show from March 23rd – 2nd July 2020 around 26 women and girls were killed by domestic violence in lockdown.

Currently, the research team have not looked into how a father’s childhood experiences can affect a child, but they have made plans to further explore the subject.

Photo by Bethany Beck

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