Does child maltreatment predict alcohol use disorders in young adulthood? A cohort study of linked notifications and survey data

Abstract

Background and aims Most studies of the association between child maltreatment and subsequent problem alcohol use are retrospective. We studied the association of prospectively substantiated child maltreatment with problem alcohol use in adulthood. Design We used a prospective cohort record linkage correlational design using data from a statutory child protection agency of prospectively substantiated child maltreatment linked to a birth cohort from a major metropolitan maternity hospital. Setting The Mater‐University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy in Brisbane, Australia. Participants Of the 3762 young people at the 21‐year follow‐up, 169 (4.5%) had a history of substantiated maltreatment by 16 years. This was most commonly emotional abuse (n = 90). Measurements The main outcome was heavy alcohol use at the 21‐year follow‐up, defined as four or more standard drinks per day. Secondary outcomes were life‐time and 12‐month diagnoses of alcohol use disorders in 2531 participants who completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview‐auto (CIDI‐auto) version. Predictor variables were physical, sexual and emotional abuse, as well as neglect. Findings At follow‐up, 407 of the 3762 participants reported heavy alcohol use (10.8%). On adjusted analyses, participants who had experienced emotional abuse were significantly more likely to report heavy alcohol use at the time of interview (adjusted odds ratio = 1.856; 95% confidence interval = 1.038–3.319; P = 0.037). Neglect was associated with a life‐time CIDI diagnosis of an alcohol use disorder. Other types of child maltreatment were not significantly associated with any of the outcomes. Conclusions Prospectively identified experience of childhood emotional abuse and neglect appears to be positively associated with problem alcohol use at age 21.

Tipping the Scales: Factors Influencing the Decision to Report Child Maltreatment in Primary Care

“…Another study using the ACE questionnaire found that CM primarily accounted for mental health symptoms in adolescents (Negriff, 2020). A prospective cohort study of young people found that participants who had experienced emotional abuse were significantly more likely to report heavy alcohol use (Kisely et al, 2019). This supports Felitti et al (1998) in their speculation that those with higher ACE scores engage in health harming behavior, such as heavy alcohol use or smoking, as a stress coping mechanism.…”

Research using population-based administration data integrated with longitudinal data in child protection settings: A systematic review

“…There are a range of simple to more sophisticated analytical methods of handling missing data that can be applied to reduce bias in reported outcomes. The simplest method reported was listwise deletion [4,21,59,97,98] and including missing data as a separate category for each covariate in regression analysis (Missing Indicator Method) [47,81,[93][94][95][96]. Sophisticated methods included multiple imputation using Markov chain iterative regression methods (MCMC) [94], multiple imputation using chained equations (MICE) [45], and multiple imputation using the fully conditional specification (FCS) method [99] (S3 Table ).…”

“…Even though the attrition rate was not mentioned in almost half of the studies, attrition was described for 63% of all studies. The review identified attrition as occurring due to loss of follow-up or differential attrition occurring among families with reported cases of substantiated maltreatment, those from higher socio-economic disadvantaged backgrounds and among males and indigenous people (particularly among MUSP studies) [4,21,46,82,97,98,101,102]. Other attrition reported was death or early infant loss [47,55,93,96], non-response [47] and emigration [47,55].…”

Assessment of coexisting psychosis and substance misuse: complexities, challenges and causality

“…If such liability is manifest initially in adolescent substance use, this use may increase the vulnerability to both later substance misuse and psychosis (Khokhar 2018), illustrating the interactive and dynamic nature of the relationship between substance use and psychosis. Similarly, stress (arising from early adversity and/ or more recent life events) is both a shared risk factor for psychosis and substance use (Mizrahi 2016;Valentino 2019;Kisely 2020) and a risk factor that may, in combination with substance use, cumulatively increase the risk of psychosis (Arranz 2018). A history of multiple acute and chronic adverse experiences over the life course (e.g.…”

“…Similarly, stress (arising from early adversity and/or more recent life events) is both a shared risk factor for psychosis and substance use (Mizrahi 2016; Valentino 2019; Kisely 2020) and a risk factor that may, in combination with substance use, cumulatively increase the risk of psychosis (Arranz 2018). A history of multiple acute and chronic adverse experiences over the life course (e.g.…”