Childhood Stress May Make Women Gain More Weight

A new study has revealed that childhood stress may have a bigger impact on women that stress that was experienced in adulthood.

The research paper which was published in the journal Social Science and Medicine interestingly found no link between childhood stress and adult stress with regard to weight gain for men.

"These findings add to our understanding of how childhood stress is a more important driver of long term weight gain than adult stress, and how such processes differ for men and women," said one of the researchers Hui Liu, associate professor of sociology at Michigan State University in the US.

For the study, the researchers analysed the data of 3617 (1358 were men while 2259 were women) participants. These participants were interviewed four time over a 15 year time frame.

Childhood stress was determined through family related stressor for participants aged 16 years or lower. Aspects like being part of a single parent household, economic hardships, the presence of at least one parent with a mental health issue and not knowing the identity of the one's father were considered.

Adulthood stress included factors like death of spouse, joblessness and even stress related to elderly parental care.

During the study, researchers discovered that women who experienced higher levels of stress during the childhood were more prone to weight gain than those who experienced lower levels of childhood stress.

"Change in body mass is a process that unfolds throughout life and childhood may be a critical period for establishing patterns that have a long term impact on women's weight over time," Liu said.

"Men and women respond to stress differently. It may be possible that women eat more to cope with stress, whereas men are more likely to engage in less weight-related strategies such as withdrawing or drinking alcohol," Liu added.