NCJ Number
216320
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 30 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 1017-1036
Date Published
September 2006
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects of sexual abuse, physical/emotional abuse, neglect, disconnection from family, and parents' alcohol problems on polysubstance use and disordered eating in a community sample of 361 Latina adolescent girls, as well as the influence on outcomes of 5 individual characteristics.
Abstract
The study found that physical/emotional abuse predicted polysubstance use and concerns with weight among the Latina girls, and these associations were mediated by the individual characteristic of impaired current attachment with parents and others. Disconnection from family predicted bulimic behaviors (gorging on food, followed by self-induced vomiting), and this association was mediated by the personal characteristic of dysphoria (feeling of hopelessness and meaninglessness leading to suicidal thoughts). Disconnection from family predicted low social conformity; and low social conformity predicted polysubstance use. Childhood sexual abuse did not distinctively predict any adverse outcome or individual characteristic examined. These findings emphasize the importance of having broad and inclusive theoretical frameworks for explaining substance use and eating disorders among Latina adolescent girls. The 361 adolescent Latina girls (mean age of 17.2 years old) were recruited in Los Angeles County, CA, in 1998 and 1999. Various scales were administered to the girls to measure childhood abuse and neglect, parents' alcohol problems, family disconnection, cultural pride, use of the English language, healthy current attachment, dysphoria, social conformity, polysubstance use, weight concerns, and bulimic behaviors. 1 table, 4 figures, and 62 references