Societal cancer found to cause cancer

That's right, people. Children who are frequently abused by a parent have a higher risk of cancer in adulthood. The new study from researchers at Purdue University, published online in the Journal of Aging and Health, reveals that the effects are particularly significant when mothers abuse their daughters and fathers abuse their sons. Kenneth Ferraro, distinguished professor of sociology and director of Purdue's Center on Aging and the Life Course, commented: "People often say that children are resilient and they'll bounce back, but we found that there are events that can have long-term consequences on adult health. In this case, people who were frequently emotionally or physically abused by their parents were more likely to have cancer in adulthood, and the link was greater when fathers abused sons and mothers abused daughters. Overall, the more frequent and intense the abuse, the more it elevated the cancer risk. We would like to see child abuse noted as an environmental factor that can increase cancer occurrence in adulthood. More research on this topic also could help mediate the effects or improve interventions to help abused children." So all child-abusers need to stop and think - not only do you run the risk of criminal prosecution for your actions now, you could be harming and scarring your victims in more ways than one.