Assesment of the relationships between childhood traumas and adult obesity

In this study, a total of 314 individuals (111 female and 46 male with a BMI ≥ 30; 122 female and 35 male (n=157) with a BMI between 18.5 and 25) were attended among those who applied to the Nutrition and Dietetics Department of Fatih University Medical School Hospital from September 2014 to December 2014. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between childhood traumas and adult obesity. The body weight, height, waist circumference and hip circumference measurements of the participants were completed based by anthropometric measurement techniques. Socio-demographic data form was conducted by face to face interview technique. The CTQ-28 method, also known as the self report childhood trauma scale to evaluate retrospectively the quantity of abuse and neglect experiences before 20 yr-old was used to determine the childhood trauma. The level of self-esteem was determined by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The mean age and BMI were found to be as 31.5±7.2 and 34.3±6.4 in the experimental group, and 30.2±7.8 and 22.7±2.9 in the control group, respectively. The mean CTQ rate was determined 42.6±10.5 for the experimental group while it was 37.2±6.6 for the control group. The frequencies of physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect and sexual abuse were 26.1%, 0.3%, 59.2%, 89.8% and 31.2% for the experimental group, and 13.1%, 69.4%, 42.7%, 86.6% and 21.7%, respectively. Especially, the frequencies of physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect and sexual abuse in the experimental group were significanlty high (P<0.05) whereas there was no significant difference between both of the groups based on frequency of emotional neglect reporting (p>0.05). The frequency of exposure to having a traumatic experience was 68.8% for the experimental group. However, it was 38.8% for the control group (p<0.05). In the same manner, the frequency of low self-esteem reporting in the obese individuals was considerably higher than non-obese individuals (P<0.05). Keywords : Obesity, childhood trauma, abuse, self-esteem.