The proposed study will examine associations between early life chronic exposure to violence (ETV) and (1) incidence of somatic and co-morbid depression/anxiety symptoms in adolescence, and (2) hypertension (HTN) and uterine fibroids in adulthood using two longitudinal cohort studies. In a subsample of 2,400 children and adolescents, aged 9 -18, from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), a 6-year, prospective study of ETV among children and youth, the following hypotheses will be tested: (la) youth exposed to higher levels of violence will have increased risk of somatic disorders relative to those with lower-levels of violence; and (lb) perceived threat will mediate the relationship between violence and somatic disorders in youth. In a second population of women, aged 35-52 years [Nurse's Health Study II (NHS II)] followed biannually in an ongoing prospective cohort study, two additional hypotheses will be tested: (2a) those with higher levels of cumulative violence exposure in childhood and adolescence will have a greater number of incident cases of fibroids and HTN in adulthood than those with lower levels of violence exposure; and (2b) hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA) dysregulation--as measured by mean sex steroid levels--mediates the relationship between early life exposure to chronic violence, HTN and fibroid incidence in adulthood.
| Boynton-Jarrett, Renee; Ryan, Louise M; Berkman, Lisa F et al. (2008) Cumulative violence exposure and self-rated health: longitudinal study of adolescents in the United States. Pediatrics 122:961-70 |
