Exploring psychological abuse in childhood: II. Association with other abuse and adult clinical depression

Abstract

A new retrospective interview assessment of childhood psychological abuse, an extension to the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) instrument, is described in a companion article (Moran, Bifulco, Ball, Jacobs, & Benaim, 2002). The purpose of the present article is to examine the relationship of childhood psychological abuse to other adverse childhood experiences and to major depression and suicidal behavior in adult life. Childhood experience and lifetime disorder were assessed retrospectively in a high-risk, community series of London women (n = 204). Psychological abuse from parents was examined in relation to seven other parental behaviors (neglect, antipathy, role reversal, discipline, supervision, physical abuse, and sexual abuse). Psychological abuse was significantly related to all seven behaviors. The highest associations found were to antipathy (gamma = .76), neglect (.73), and sexual abuse (.72). Factor analysis showed the existence of two factors reflecting care and control, with psychological abuse associated with both factors. Childhood psychological abuse was highly related to chronic or recurrent adult depression, with a "dose-response" evident for severity of abuse. The rates ranged from 83% for "marked" to 55% for "mild" abuse and 37% for "little/no" psychological abuse (p < .002). Psychological abuse was also related to lifetime suicidal behavior but here any level of abuse from marked to mild had similar rates (36% overall vs. 18% with no psychological abuse, p < .04). There was no evidence of specificity of childhood experience to adult depression; nearly all types of childhood adversity examined were significantly related. An analysis using an index of multiple abuse, including psychological abuse, showed a clear dose-response relationship to disorder. Somewhat fewer forms of maltreatment were related to suicidal behavior, but again multiples showed a clear dose-response effect.

A (in)visibilidade da violência psicológica na infância e adolescência no contexto familiar

“…Nos 51 estudos epidemiológicos encontrouse que 14 destes (27,5%) são exclusivos com amostra do sexo feminino 14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27 . Em relação à idade dos entrevistados, 35 artigos (68,6%) utilizaram como amostra de pesquisa a faixa etária dos adultos e 16 artigos (31,4%), adolescentes e crianças 10,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41 .…”

“…O estudo de violência psicológica como fator de risco, encontrado em 7 artigos (13,7%), apontam para bulimia nervosa, obesidade, ansiedade, depressão, estresse pós-traumático e distúrbios somáticos 21,22,27,28,55,56,57 .…”

“…Além disso, o fato dos artigos serem realizados em diferentes culturas aumentou a contribuição para o conhecimento do tema, reforçando que a violência vivida na infância, em especial a violência psicológica, origina danos reais e potenciais na saúde física e mental de crianças e adolescentes, tendo repercussões a curto e longo prazo, ou seja, refletindo também na vida adulta destas pessoas 14,15,16,17,20,21,22,23,24,25,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,55 . É importante sensibilizar a rede de atenção a vítimas de violência e a sociedade em geral com a noção de que a violência psicológica promove uma mensagem cultural específica de rejeição que prejudica de forma re-levante o processo de socialização e desenvolvimento psicológico, com graves efeitos especialmente quando ocorre na infância e adolescência 27,28,30,33,35,36,38,39 .…”

Victimization in Childhood as a Factor Conditioning Risk Behaviors in the Group of Polish Adolescents

“…Also works of Hund and Espelage (2006) point to presence of correlation between emotional violence in childhood and eating disorders in the later life. In the study of Bifulco et al (2002), emotional violence experiences in childhood was related to suicidal behaviors in later life. However, Moran et al (2004) found relationship between emotional violence experiences and substance using by adolescents, but it was the weakest-in comparison with other analyzed types of violence.…”

Early trauma and mood disorders in youngsters

“…There is a strong link between a history of childhood emotional abuse and diagnosis of depression in adulthood 8 , so as to 42% of the adults who have experienced early sexual abuse developed chronic depression 9 . There are a growing number of longitudinal studies relating childhood emotional abuse as development of symptoms and depressive episodes 10 .…”