According to The Los Angeles Times, researchers at Boston University have just conducted their first study that compares obesity to childhood abuse in African-American women.

The study, which researchers say is an extended Black Women’s Health study that began in 1985, placed higher rates of obesity on women who where severely abused as children.

“In 2005, 33,298 women responded to questions about childhood physical or sexual abuse.” The Los Angeles Times reports. “Nearly 58% of the women reported at least one instance of abuse as a child or teen, and 11% reported severe physical or sexual abuse.”

This comes as no surprise, since childhood traumas often have a negative effect in adults, often leading to mental illness, alcoholism, drug-addiction, and other depressive symptoms.

To be a part of the study, get in contact with them at Boston University.

TAGS

around the web

6 Comments

  1. its yet another way that black women will attempt to scape goal their lack of self control when it comes to eating right and working out.

    • Well that’s pretty ignorant, but what can you expect from someone who doesn’t know how to spell scapegoat?

  2. Abuse may be a factor for some, but the largest primary factor is POVERTY dammit. Poverty literally limits food choices and options for humans in this country, cutting them off from fresh, affordable produce and emphasizing a diet filled with horrible processed foods that kill. The whole nation is suffering from obesity, but the horrors of the side-effects (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc.) fall upon Blacks and Native Americans with a vengance due to the discrimination and resulting poverty that is visited upon the majority of the humans every day in the U.S.

    Sexual or physical abuse are NOT the major factors. POVERTY CAUSES OBESITY AND POOR HEALTH!

Leave a Reply