Childhood trauma and neighborhood-level crime interact in predicting adult posttraumatic stress and major depression symptoms

Abstract

Previous research has identified several individual-level factors that modify the risk of childhood trauma on adult psychiatric symptoms, including symptoms of major depression (MD) and posttraumatic stress (PTS). Neighborhood-level factors also influence the impact of individual-level exposures on adult psychopathology. However, no prior studies to our knowledge have explored cross-level interactions between childhood trauma and neighborhood-level factors on MD and PTS symptoms. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore cross-level interactions between a neighborhood-level factor – neighborhood-level crime – and childhood trauma on MD and PTS symptoms. Participants in this study (N = 3,192) were recruited from a large public hospital, and completed self-report inventories of childhood trauma and MD and PTS symptoms. Participant addresses were mapped onto 2010 census tracts, and data on crime within each tract was collected. Multilevel models found a significant cross-level interaction between childhood trauma and neighborhood crime on MD symptoms, such that the influence of high levels of childhood trauma on MD symptoms was enhanced for participants living in high-crime neighborhoods. Supplementary analyses found variation in the strength of cross-level interaction terms by types of childhood trauma and crime, with the strongest associations including emotional neglect paired with personal and property crime. The results provide preliminary support for interventions that help childhood trauma survivors find housing in less vulnerable neighborhoods and build skills to cope with neighborhood crime.

When Nowhere Is Safe: Interpersonal Trauma and Attachment Adversity as Antecedents of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Developmental Trauma Disorder

“…Attachment adversity often co‐occurs with other forms of interpersonal victimization (Bailey, Moran, & Pederson, ; D. Grasso, Dierkhising, Branson, Ford, & Lee, ; McKelvey et al., ; Seto, Babchishin, Pullman, & McPhail, ; Thoresen, Myhre, Wentzel‐Larsen, Aakvaag, & Hjemdal, ). Our findings are consistent with research suggesting that the combination of interpersonal trauma and attachment adversity has an adverse synergistic effect on psychosocial development (Lowe et al., ).…”

Factors Moderating the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Premorbid Adjustment in First-Episode Schizophrenia

“…Our findings are consistent with those of a meta-analysis that compared rates of childhood trauma across countries and found that that Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) had higher rates than upper income countries [29]. Notably, LMICs have higher rates of crime, poverty and unemployment—all of which are socio-economic factors known to influence childhood trauma rates [30–31]. Alternatively, the high rates of reported childhood trauma in our sample may relate to measurement with the CTQ.…”

La cultura tanática

“…Cotidianamente en las calles ocurren asaltos y violencia en diferentes modalidades como cogoteo, arrebatos, trepar casas o "sarakeo" (robo de celulares desde el bolsillo con los dedos de las manos) (27)(28)(29). También es común la violencia de las barras bravas y pandillas, las mismas que asaltan a los transeúntes o se atacan mutuamente en las denominadas "guerreadas": enfrentamientos callejeros entre grupos disociales que se disputan territorios, mujeres o por venganza (30).…”