A Prospective Examination of the Mechanisms Linking Childhood Physical Abuse to Body Mass Index in Adulthood.

Previous research has reported associations between childhood physical abuse and body mass index (BMI) in adulthood. This article examined the role of four potential mediators (anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, and coping) hypothesized to explain this relationship. Using data from a prospective cohort design, court-substantiated cases of childhood physical abuse (N = 78) and nonmaltreated comparisons (N = 349) were followed up and assessed in adulthood at three time points (1989-1995, 2000-2002, and 2003-2005) when participants were of age 29.