ArticleHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2025
Cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and depressive symptoms as pathways from child abuse to obesity.
Article in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association between serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels and body weight status among US adults: findings from NHANES 2021-2023.Hormones (Athens, Greece) · 2026Article
- Adverse childhood experiences and hypertension: examining the roles of depressive symptoms and cardiometabolic dysregulations based on CHARLS data.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveChild abuse has been linked with obesity throughout the lifespan. The aim of the current study was to test two competing mechanisms underlying the association between child abuse exposure and obesity in childhood. Specifically, we examined whether depressive symptoms and the ratio of cortisol to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), two hormones central to the stress response system, mediated the link between child abuse and obesity.
methodThis study employed a sample of 1,229 children all experiencing poverty (63.5% Black, 49.1% biological females). Approximately 40% of the participants were exposed to childhood physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse (
resultsResults of structural equation modeling indicated that children with abuse histories evidenced a lower cortisol/DHEA ratio, which was associated with a greater likelihood of childhood obesity. Importantly, this pathway held while controlling for a depressive symptom pathway, pointing to the unique influence of adrenocortical dysregulation in the child abuse-obesity link. Although child abuse was associated with greater depressive symptoms, depressive symptoms were not related to obesity.
conclusionThese findings underscore that childhood adversity can "get under the skin" to affect health, even as early as childhood, and highlight that trauma-informed approaches to the clinical care of children with abuse histories represent a promising avenue for obesity prevention. Preventing child abuse occurrence and supporting children following abuse exposure may both be critical points of intervention for obesity prevention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
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