RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether maternal violence exposure personally and through her child is associated with an earlier age of menopause, controlling for covariates. METHODS: Analyses used merged data from two related sources. Although mothers (nâ=â1,466) were interviewed in 1995 and then 20 years later (2015-17), their children were interviewed in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health repeatedly (Waves 1-4, 1994/5 to 2008-2009). Mothers reported their own age of menopause, and mothers and adolescents each reported their own exposure to violence as children and adults. RESULTS: A mother's own childhood physical abuse (bâ=â-1.60, Pâ<â.05) and her child's sexual abuse (bâ=â-1.39, Pâ<â.01) both were associated with an earlier age of menopause. Mothers who were physically abused in childhood and have a child who experienced regular sexual abuse reached menopause 8.78âyears earlier than mothers without a history of personal abuse or abuse of their child. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to find that age of natural menopause is associated with intergenerational violence exposures.