Effect of childhood trauma on health in adulthood

Introduction and Aim: It is thought that childhood experiences of the individual have an effect on his/her behavior and attitudes in adulthood. Although many studies have been carried out about the effects of childhood experiences on adulthood, especially in developed countries, it is seen that there is a limited number of studies in developing countries. This study aims to examine the effect of childhood traumas of the healthcare providers of Karamursel State Hospital in Kocaeli province on their health and understanding of health in adulthood. Method: The sample of this cross-sectional analytical study consists of the healthcare providers of Karamursel State Hospital. Data collection were performed between April-May, 2019, by sealed questionnaire method. In descriptive statistics, while frequency and percentages were calculated for categorical variables, their means and standard deviations were taken for continuous variables. On the other hand, chi-square, t-test and logistic regression analysis were used for the presence of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables used in the study. Results: When the questionnaires used for the purpose of the study are evaluated, depression was found in 68.9% of the participants. When it comes to subscales of the healthy lifestyle scale, the following results were found to be low or absent in the specified percentage of participants: moral development in 46.2% of the participants; health responsibility in 45.8%, physical activity status in 52.8%, nutritional habit in 48.6%, interpersonal relationships in 49.1%, and stress management in 51.4%. When the subscales of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire are examined, the results are as follows: physical abuse in 26.8% of the parcipants was high, while emotional abuse in 48.8%, physical neglect in 55.5% and emotional neglect in 55.0% was high. The overall result of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was found to be high at a rate of 51.7%. Conclusion: It was found that childhood trauma has a negative effect on the presence of depression and a healthy lifestyle in adulthood. Key words: childhood, trauma, addiction, depression, healthy lifestyle