Childhood maltreatment is associated with increased risk for most forms of psychopathology. We examine emotion dysregulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking maltreatment with general ...psychopathology. A sample of 262 children and adolescents participated; 162 (61.8%) experienced abuse or exposure to domestic violence. We assessed four emotion regulation processes (cognitive reappraisal, attention bias to threat, expressive suppression, and rumination) and emotional reactivity. Psychopathology symptoms were assessed concurrently and at a 2-year longitudinal follow-up. A general psychopathology factor (p factor), representing co-occurrence of psychopathology symptoms across multiple internalizing and externalizing domains, was estimated using confirmatory factor analysis. Maltreatment was associated with heightened emotional reactivity and greater use of expressive suppression and rumination. The association of maltreatment with attention bias varied across development, with maltreated children exhibiting a bias toward threat and adolescents a bias away from threat. Greater emotional reactivity and engagement in rumination mediated the longitudinal association between maltreatment and increased general psychopathology over time. Emotion dysregulation following childhood maltreatment occurs at multiple stages of the emotion generation process, in some cases varies across development, and serves as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking child maltreatment with general psychopathology.
This study aims to assess whether mothers reporting high and low child abuse potential differ in their experiences of childhood abuse and use of defense mechanisms, and to examine factors which might ...predict child abuse potential. 120 pregnant mothers in their third trimester completed demographic questionnaires, trauma and abuse potential measures, and a semi-structured parenting interview, which was coded for defense mechanisms. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance were conducted to determine group differences of mothers with high and low abuse potential. A stepwise linear regression was conducted to identify variables which significantly predicted abuse potential. Mothers reporting high abuse potential were found to have significantly greater emotional and physical childhood abuse experiences, greater immature defense use, and lower overall defensive functioning than mothers with low abuse potential. Emotional abuse and immature defense use significantly predicted total child abuse potential scores. Results are consistent with existing literature and provide a novel approach to understanding influences on child abuse potential including maternal history of childhood abuse and current defense mechanisms. These variables further serve as points of prevention and intervention for improving the negative outcomes associated with intergenerational risk for child abuse.
A large body of research has examined the relationship between victimization and future offending, with results suggesting that crime victims are at higher risk of future criminal behavior—known as ...the victim-offender overlap. Prior studies have primarily examined the relationship between general victimization (e.g., violent victimization, sexual abuse, and more) and general offending (e.g., violence, sexual offending, and drug use), and focused on adult populations.
The goal of the present study is to expand on prior literature by examining if specific forms of childhood victimization increase the risk of specific and analogous forms of offending among delinquent youth.
Based upon a population of 64,329 high-risk youth offenders in Florida, this study evaluates the specificity of the overlap among youth who were physically abused, sexually abused, or witnessed illegal substance use at home during childhood to determine if these forms of victimization increased the risk of violence, sexual offending, and drug use, respectively, when assessed in multivariate logistic regression models.
Results provide considerable support for specificity in the victim-offender overlap, as hypothesized. Specifically, experiencing physical abuse (OR = 1.55, p < .001), sexual abuse (OR = 3.58, p < .001) and witnessing household substance abuse (OR = 1.66, p < .001) in childhood each significantly and substantially increased the risk of analogous criminal behavior in adolescence, even when controlling for other risk factors and forms of victimization.
This study provided novel evidence for specificity in the victim-offender overlap, even after controlling for confounding variables. Practical implications for early intervention and crime prevention are discussed, as well as implications for future research. Highlighting the importance of specificity in the victimization and adverse childhood experience (ACE) paradigms.
Alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use cause considerable morbidity and mortality, but good cross-national epidemiological data are limited. This paper describes such data from the first 17 countries ...participating in the World Health Organization's (WHO's) World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative.
Household surveys with a combined sample size of 85,052 were carried out in the Americas (Colombia, Mexico, United States), Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine), Middle East and Africa (Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa), Asia (Japan, People's Republic of China), and Oceania (New Zealand). The WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to assess the prevalence and correlates of a wide variety of mental and substance disorders. This paper focuses on lifetime use and age of initiation of tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine. Alcohol had been used by most in the Americas, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand, with smaller proportions in the Middle East, Africa, and China. Cannabis use in the US and New Zealand (both 42%) was far higher than in any other country. The US was also an outlier in cocaine use (16%). Males were more likely than females to have used drugs; and a sex-cohort interaction was observed, whereby not only were younger cohorts more likely to use all drugs, but the male-female gap was closing in more recent cohorts. The period of risk for drug initiation also appears to be lengthening longer into adulthood among more recent cohorts. Associations with sociodemographic variables were consistent across countries, as were the curves of incidence of lifetime use.
Globally, drug use is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones. Sex differences were consistently documented, but are decreasing in more recent cohorts, who also have higher levels of illegal drug use and extensions in the period of risk for initiation.
Abstract Objective In this study, we compared the frequency and intensity of childhood traumas in alcohol- or other drug-dependent patients, in patients with depression, and in a control group ...without psychiatric diagnoses. Methods The study had a retrospective design of a clinical sample of men and women from the groups listed above. They were evaluated by the same standardized instrument: the “Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.” Results A higher frequency and intensity of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse were found in alcohol- and other drug-dependent patients than in patients with depression, who, in turn, presented significantly higher proportions than the control group. In all of the cases, the frequency was higher among women than men. Conclusion Because of the high frequency and intensity of childhood traumas among alcohol- or other drug-dependent patients and depressed patients, the assessment of problems due to childhood traumas among these patients is essential to a better understanding of the etiology of those disorders and to their treatment.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk of mental health difficulties in general, but the link to panic disorder (PD) has received comparatively little attention. There are no data for ...the magnitudes between ACEs and PD. This systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the overall, as well as the subgroups, odds ratio of having PD in adults who report ACEs, compared to adults who do not.
The study was pre-registered on PROSPERO CRD42018111506 and the database was searched in June 2021. In order to overcome the violation of independent assumptions due to multiple estimations from the same samples, we utilized a robust variance estimation model that supports meta-analysis for clustered estimations. Accordingly, an advanced method relaxing the distributional and asymptotic assumptions was used to assess publication bias and sensitivity.
The literature search and screening returned 34 final studies, comprising 192,182 participants. Ninety-six estimations of 20 types of ACEs were extracted. Pooled ORs are: overall 2.2, CI (1.82-2.58), sexual abuse 1.92, CI (1.37-2.46), physical abuse 1.71, CI (1.37-2.05), emotional abuse 1.61, CI (0.868-2.35), emotional neglect 1.53, CI (0.756-2.31), parental alcoholism 1.83, CI (1.24-2.43), and parental separation/loss 1.82, CI (1.14-2.50). No between-group difference was identified by either sociolegal classification (abuse, neglect, household dysfunction) or threat-deprivation dimensions (high on threat, high on deprivation and mixed).
There are links of mild to medium strength between overall ACEs and PD as well as individual ACEs. The homogeneous effect sizes across ACEs either suggest the effects of ACEs on PD are comparable, or raised the question whether the categorical or dimensional approaches to classifying ACEs are the definitive ways to conceptualize the impact of ACEs on later mental health.
Little is known about the associations between various types of childhood maltreatment and multiple forms of intimate partner violence victimization in early adulthood. This study examines the extent ...to which childhood experiences of maltreatment increase the risk for intimate partner violence victimization in early adulthood. Data for the present study are from 3322 young adults (55 % female) of the Mater Hospital-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy with the mean age of 20.6 years. The Mater Hospital-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy is a prospective Australian pre-birth cohort study of mothers consecutively recruited during their first antenatal clinic visit at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital from 1981 through to 1983. Participants completed the Composite Abuse Scale at 21-year follow-up and linked this dataset to agency recorded substantiated cases of childhood maltreatment. In adjusted models, the odds of reporting emotional intimate partner violence victimization were 1.84, 2.64 and 3.19 times higher in physically abused, neglected and emotionally abused children, respectively. Similarly, the odds of physical intimate partner violence victimization were 1.76, 2.31, 2.74 and 2.76 times higher in those children who had experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse, respectively. Harassment was 1.63 times higher in emotionally abused children. The odds of severe combined abuse were 3.97 and 4.62 times greater for emotionally abused and neglected children, respectively. The strongest associations involved reports of child emotional abuse and neglect and multiple forms of intimate partner violence victimization in young adulthood. Childhood maltreatment is a chronic adversity that is associated with specific and multiple forms of intimate partner violence victimization in adulthood.
Physical, sexual and psychological abuse were examined as risk factors for pregnancy-related anxiety with resilience and social support as mediators. Pregnant women (n = 638) completed measures of ...pregnancy-related anxiety, resilience, perceived social support and childhood abuse. Women with an abuse history had higher pregnancy-related anxiety scores (m = 64.40) than other women (m = 55.36). All abuse types independently predicted pregnancy-related anxiety; resilience and social support were mediators. Results highlight the value of antenatal screening for pregnancy-related anxiety including specific risk factors such as child abuse. Programs such as the Midwife Continuity of Care are useful in encouraging disclosure.
Child sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with a range of negative consequences for victims that are compounded when it recurs. We used the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System to study a cohort ...of 42,036 children in 45 U.S. states with sexual abuse reports first confirmed by child protective services (CPS) during 2010 in order to identify children with increased risk for recurrence. A small proportion (3.6%) had a second confirmed sexual abuse report through 2015. In multivariate models, female gender, family hearing and vision problems, other child maltreatment, and other family violence were associated with increased risk of recurrence, while younger children, Hispanic families, and those with substance abuse tended to have less risk. One fourth of recurrence involved the same offender, usually a parent or caretaker. One fourth of cases were referred for any CPS services, which were more likely to be provided for families with poverty, drug or alcohol problems, or other violence. Only substance abuse services significantly reduced recurrence in multivariable models. Those trying to reduce CSA recurrence should recognize that certain case characteristics are associated with greater recurrence, and most CPS services do not significantly reduce CSA recurrence.
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