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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Ann Epidemiol. 2015 Jul 16;25(10):760–766.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.06.081

Table 1b.

Distribution of covariates, eating behaviors, and BMI in early adulthood (age 22–29 years) across abuse exposure in childhood (age < 11 years)

Variable Abuse in childhood (age<11 years)
Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Emotional abuse
None
(n=3139)
Mild
(n=763)
Severe
(n=409)
None
(n=3961)
Touched
only
(n=237)
Forced sex
(n=120)
Least
abusive
(n=2741)
More
abusive
(n=1172)
Most
abusive
(n=415)

Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Mean (SD)
or column
%
Outcome: BMI (kg/m2) at age 22–29 years 24.3 (5.3) 24.5 (5.3) 25.5 (6.0) 24.4 (5.3) 24.8 (5.4) 26.6 (7.0) 24.1 (5.2) 24.8 (5.5) 25.7 (6.2)

Exposure-outcome covariates:
 Baseline (1996) age (years) 12.1 (1.6) 12.0 (1.6) 12.0 (1.6) 12.0 (1.6) 12.1 (1.6) 12.1 (1.6) 12.0 (1.6) 12.1 (1.6) 12.0 (1.6)
 Baseline BMI percentilea, age 9–14 years 55.6 (30.1) 54.3 (30.7) 58.9 (30.3) 55.6 (30.2) 57.3 (29.6) 58.0 (30.4) 55.1 (29.9) 56.3 (30.9) 59.4 (30.2)
 Maternal BMI at age 18b 20.9 (2.8) 21.0 (2.7) 21.1 (2.8) 20.9 (2.8) 20.9 (2.7) 21.5 (2.8) 20.8 (2.7) 21.1 (2.9) 21.3 (3.2)
 Social status scorec 3.8 (1.1) 4.0 (1.1) 4.0 (1.2) 3.9 (1.1) 4.0 (1.1) 4.3 (1.1) 3.8 (1.1) 4.0 (1.2) 4.1 (1.2)
 Nonwhite race 2.7% 3.1% 4.0% 2.9% 3.6% 3.0% 2.9% 3.4% 2.6%
 Maternal antidepressant used 21.1% 24.8% 31.0% 21.8% 26.7% 37.7% 21.0% 24.5% 27.4%

Mediators:
 History of any binge eating, 2010 33.3% 40.2% 49.8% 34.9% 51.1% 47.7% 31.8% 41.3% 52.5%
 Coping-motivated eating, 2010:
  Quartile 1 32.5% 26.6% 28.0% 31.8% 28.1% 24.4% 33.0% 28.6% 27.4%
  Quartile 2 26.5% 25.8% 21.0% 26.1% 23.8% 17.7% 27.0% 24.8% 21.5%
  Quartile 3 20.5% 21.2% 20.1% 20.4% 18.9% 24.0% 20.4% 20.7% 19.2%
  Quartile 4 20.5% 26.4% 30.8% 21.8% 29.2% 34.0% 19.6% 25.9% 31.9%

Mediator-outcome covariates:
 Ever dieted, 2005 75.1% 77.1% 80.1% 75.3% 84.5% 75.5% 74.2% 77.4% 83.9%
 Physically activee, 2005 22.8% 25.9% 21.0% 23.3% 23.8% 18.1% 22.6% 24.7% 23.7%
 Ever smoked, 2007 51.6% 54.2% 68.4% 51.8% 64.8% 76.6% 50.0% 56.9% 65.7%
 Depression score, 2007f 7.6 (4.7) 9.2 (5.1) 10.3 (5.4) 8.0 (4.9) 9.4 (5.1) 11.3 (5.5) 7.4 (4.6) 9.1 (5.0) 10.5 (5.6)
a

Relative to CDC reference growth data [36]

b

Maternal body-mass index at age 18 was reported by participants’ mothers, who are participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II; maternal self-report of age-18 BMI shows good agreement with nursing school medical records [44]

c

Average of participant’s and mother’s reports of social status in American society (range 1–10 with 1 being highest status)

d

Mothers’ report of their history of antidepressant use in or prior to 2001

e

Averaged 10 or more hours of physical activity per week

f

Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale—short form[40]; a score of 10 or greater is considered a marker of significant depressive symptoms. The prevalence of significant depressive symptoms ranged from approximately 30% among women with no abuse, to approximately 50% among women with severe abuse.

BMI at age 22–29, social status score, % binge eating, coping-motivated eating, % smoking, and depression score differed significantly (p<0.05) by severity level for all abuse types. Dieting prevalence differed significantly by sexual abuse severity. Baseline BMI percentile and maternal BMI at age 18 differed significantly by emotional abuse severity.