Brief Communication: Physical Abuse of Boys and Possible Associations with Poor Adult Outcomes

Brief Communication: Physical Abuse of Boys and Possible Associations with Poor Adult Outcomes

William C. Holmes, MD, MSCE; and
Mary D. Sammel, ScD

From Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Abstract

Background: Men's childhood physical abuse experiences are understudied.

Objective: To obtain descriptions about men's personal childhood physical abuse histories and estimate their association with adult outcomes.

Design: Population-based telephone survey.

Setting: Urban areas with high frequency of domestic violence against girls and women.

Participants: 298 men recruited through random-digit dialing.

Measurements: 6 Conflict Tactics Scale items and psychiatric, sexual, and legal history questions.

Results: One hundred of 197 (51%) participants had a history of childhood physical abuse. Most (73%) participants were abused by a parent. Childhood physical abuse history was associated with depression symptoms (P = 0.003), post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (P < 0.001), number of lifetime sexual partners (P = 0.035), legal troubles (P = 0.002), and incarceration (P = 0.007) in unadjusted analyses and with depression symptoms (P = 0.015) and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (P = 0.003) in adjusted analyses.

Limitations: There may have been inaccurate recall of past events. Lack of exposure time data disallowed direct comparison of abuse perpetration by mothers versus fathers. Other unmeasured variables related to childhood physical abuse might better explain poor adult outcomes.

Conclusions: The high frequency of childhood physical abuse histories in this population-based male sample, coupled with the high proportion of parent perpetrators and the association between childhood physical abuse and adult outcomes that are often associated with perpetration of violence, argues for more study of and clinical attentiveness to potential adult outcomes of men's own childhood physical abuse histories.

Article and Author Information

Grant Support: Dr. Holmes was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (DA015635).
Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.
Requests for Single Reprints: William C. Holmes, MD, MSCE, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 733 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6021; e-mail, holmeswc{at}mail.med.upenn.edu.
Current Author Addresses: Drs. Holmes and Sammel: Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 733 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6021.
Author Contributions: Conception and design: W.C. Holmes.
Analysis and interpretation of the data: W.C. Holmes, M.D. Sammel.
Drafting of the article: W.C. Holmes.
Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: W.C. Holmes, M.D. Sammel.
Final approval of the article: W.C. Holmes, M.D. Sammel.
Provision of study materials or patients: W.C. Holmes.
Statistical expertise: M.D. Sammel.
Obtaining of funding: W.C. Holmes.
Administrative, technical, or logistic support: W.C. Holmes.
Collection and assembly of data: W.C. Holmes.