New research from BioMed Central’s journal Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, and reported in Medical News Today, found a link between traumatic childhood experience, especially for women, and adult smoking patterns. Researchers suggest that treatment and strategies to stop smoking need to take into account the psychological effects of childhood trauma.
Traumatic childhood experiences can range from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse to neglect and household dysfunction and affect a large range of people. In one of the largest studies of adverse childhood experiences (ACE), more than 60 percent of adults reported a history of at least one event. ACEs are thought to have a long term effect on the development of children and can lead to unhealthy coping behavior later in life.
Since psychiatric disorders, including depression and anxiety, are known to increase the risk of smoking, researchers across the U.S. collaborated to investigate the effects of psychological distress on the relationship between ACE and current adult smoking. The ACE
questionnaire was completed by over 7000 people, about half of whom were women.
Even after adjusting the data for factors known to affect a person’s propensity for smoking, such as their parents smoking during the subject’s childhood, and whether or not they had drunk alcohol in the previous month), women who had been physically or emotionally abused were 1.4 times more likely to smoke. Having had a parent in prison during childhood doubled chances of women smoking.
“Since ACEs increase the risk of psychological distress for both men and women, it seemed intuitive that an individual experiencing an ACE will be more likely to be a tobacco cigarette smoker. However, in our study, ACEs only increased the risk of smoking among women. Given this, men who have experienced childhood trauma may have different coping mechanisms than their female counterparts,” notes Dr Tara Strine, who led this study.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/247797.php. July 2012