Family Health Study
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigators
Project Summary
The Family Health Study is integrated into the TRANSFORM Center to promote the next generation of research on child abuse and neglect (CAN), translation of research findings into clinical and preventive interventions, and dissemination of research and practice knowledge/skills to varied stakeholders. The research is informed by a developmental psychopathology perspective, incorporating multiple levels of analysis within a lifespan framework. Exposure to CAN frequently results in serious adverse consequences to diverse psychological and biological systems in the course of development that have long-term detrimental effects on physical and mental health. Biological embedding of stress, the process whereby exposure to adversity alters physiology and thus impacts long-term health and development, has recently received attention as an explanatory. Mechanisms include inflammation, accelerated cellular aging, epigenetic modifications, neuroendocrine functioning, and aberrant brain structure and function. However, supporting evidence in humans is limited because long-term mental, physical, cognitive, and reproductive health outcomes have not yet been prospectively examined in CAN exposed samples. The lack of prospective longitudinal studies has significantly limited knowledge about specific mechanisms by which CAN confers its long-term impact. Moreover, the long-term impact of CAN extends beyond a single generation, to affect the health and development of the next generation. Prospective cohort studies of CAN that span multiple generations are incredibly rare, making it difficult to discern the extent to which the sequelae of CAN are propagated to the next generation. Continued multigenerational studies of existing CAN cohorts are desperately needed to address these critical gaps and advance knowledge in this understudied area.
This prospective study capitalizes on a unique existing cohort of individuals with comprehensive CAN determinations and multi-wave, multi-domain, multi-informant, multi-level assessments of functioning spanning from childhood (wave 1, mean age 9) through middle adulthood (wave 2, mean age 27). At wave 3, participants will be in middle adulthood (mean age 32) and the majority will have transitioned to parenthood. This specific period of middle adulthood represents the first time in the life course when cancer and cardiovascular disease emerge as leading causes of death for adults. Thus, wave 3 is a developmentally salient period for 1) investigating the impact of CAN on the onset and progression of health consequences, 2) determining the prospective impact of CAN exposure on reproductive health and health disparities, 3) testing the long-term consequences of CAN exposure on caregiving behavior and the continuity/discontinuity of maltreatment perpetration, 4) determining the impact of CAN on the health and development of the next generation offspring.