The impact of childhood abuse history and domestic violence on the mental health of women in Japan

Abstract Objective To understand the independent and interactive effects of childhood abuse history (CAH) and domestic violence (DV) on the mental health status of women in Japan. Methods A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among a sample of 340 women staying in 83 Mother-Child Homes in Japan to assess the women's CAH and DV experiences, along with their current mental health problems, including dissociated, depressed, and traumatic symptoms. Results Independent from DV, CAH, especially psychological abuse, had a significant impact on all of the women's mental health symptoms. DV was found to have an independent effect on traumatic symptoms. Weak interactive effects of CAH and DV were found on dissociated and traumatic symptoms. Among those women without CAH, DV was significantly associated with dissociated and traumatic symptoms; however, DV had no impact on dissociated and traumatic symptoms if CAH was present. Conclusions The findings suggest the significant impact of CAH on women's mental health problems, independent from DV. CAH and DV weakly interact on women's mental health. Practice implications In psychological therapy for battered women with mental health problems, if the cases were abused during childhood, it is recommended that therapy be focused on childhood abuse, especially if the client was psychologically abused. In addition, mental health care and welfare providers should be aware that the mental health problems of mothers without CAH might be exacerbated by DV; thus, appropriate resource allocation should be considered.