Researchers have found people maltreated as children are 2.86 times more likely to be hospitalised for alcohol use disorder, and 3.34 times more likely to be admitted for a substance use disorder, by the time they’re 40Y, compared to children who weren’t maltreated
https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2024/04/link-between-childhood-maltreatment-and-adult-substance-abuse
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>Faculty of Medicine led a study which analysed data from more than 6,000 children born in Brisbane’s Mater Mother’s Hospital between 1981 and 1983.
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>“This longitudinal birth cohort study gathered and analysed the group’s data at different stages of their lives, from 6-months-old to 40 years,” Dr Bull said.
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>“In 2000, we combined this information with additional data from the Queensland Department of Families, Youth and Community Care and found around 600 of the children were identified as maltreated.
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>“For the purposes of this study maltreatment was defined as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or neglect up to the age of 15, as reported to the department.
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>“We found those children were 2.86 times more likely to be hospitalised for alcohol use disorder as adults compared to children who weren’t maltreated, and 3.34 times more likely to be admitted for a substance use disorder.”
Paper: [Associations between child maltreatment and hospital admissions for alcohol and other substance use‐related disorders up to 40 years of age: Results from the Childhood Adversity and Lifetime Morbidity study – Bull – Addiction – Wiley Online Library](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.16479)
We all know it’s true, but it’s so important to document and quantify this effect.
This is an Australian study, but it’s the same issue everywhere. We do a pretty terrible job of protecting children. Here in the US there are regular news stories about monstrous parents starving their children to death. I have no idea what the solution is, short of a surveillance state. I do know that it’s particularly dangerous when families drop out of the public school system, with absolutely nobody watching. It’s particularly cruel that we’re such a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” society, when many people are crippled by childhood abuse from the outset. When we see the terrible outcomes (e.g. substance abuse) from these conditions, people write it off to character defects. Well, have a nice day!
Robert Sapolski’s new book Determined has some very compelling and deterministic writing on this subject if anyone wants to look into the role of free will with regard to these childhood conditions.
Anecdotally very very relevant. Alcohol facilitated the abuse upon me and it very easily became the answer. I replaced it with violence and ultimately regressed to drunkenness to avoid the truths of it. I’d found many ways to transfer that casual discouragement onto others and booze just makes it easy.