The assessment of childhood maltreatment and its associations with affective symptoms in adulthood: Results of the German National Cohort (NAKO).
Abstract
Overall, 21,131 participants (27.5%) reported at least one type of childhood maltreatment; 14,017 participants (18.3%) reported exactly one type and 250 participants (0.3%) reported all five types of childhood maltreatment. Small differences regarding age (mean absolute deviation around the mean (MAD)=0.47), sex (MAD = 0.07) and education (MAD = 0.82) were observed. The severity of childhood maltreatment was associated with more severe symptoms of depression (β = 0.23), anxiety (β = 0.21) and perceived stress (β = 0.23) in adulthood, validated particularly for emotional abuse and emotional neglect.Citation
Klinger-König J, Streit F, Erhardt A, Kleineidam L, Schmiedek F, Schmidt B, Investigators N, Wagner M, Deckert J, Rietschel M, Berger K, Grabe HJ; NAKO Investigators. The assessment of childhood maltreatment and its associations with affective symptoms in adulthood: Results of the German National Cohort (NAKO). World J Biol Psychiatry. 2022 Mar 18:1-12. doi: 10.1080/15622975.2021.2011406. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35302904.Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, GermanyDepartment of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Mannheim, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, Julius-Maximilians-University, Wuerzburg, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, GermanyGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Education and Human Development, DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyInstitute of Psychology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyIDeA (Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk) Centre, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyCenter for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, GermanyInstitute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University Hospital of Essen, Essen, GermanyDepartment of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, GermanyGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, Julius-Maximilians-University, Wuerzburg, GermanyDepartment of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Mannheim, GermanyInstitute of Epidemiology & Social Medicine, University of Muenster, Muenster, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, GermanyGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Partner Site Rostock/Greifswald, Greifswald, GermanyPublisher
Taylor and FrancisPubMed ID
35302904Type
ArticleLanguage
enDescription
Objectives: Childhood maltreatment affects 20-30% of the German population and is an important risk factor for physical and mental diseases in adult life. This study reports first results of the distribution of childhood maltreatment in the population-based mega cohort German National Cohort (NAKO) and estimates associations with affective symptoms in adulthood. Methods: The Childhood Trauma Screener (CTS), a short version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, was used in 83,995 adults (age: 20-72 years; 47.3% men) of NAKO. The five-item CTS assesses the severity of three types of childhood abuse and two types of childhood neglect. Results: Overall, 21,131 participants (27.5%) reported at least one type of childhood maltreatment; 14,017 participants (18.3%) reported exactly one type and 250 participants (0.3%) reported all five types of childhood maltreatment. Small differences regarding age (mean absolute deviation around the mean (MAD)=0.47), sex (MAD = 0.07) and education (MAD = 0.82) were observed. The severity of childhood maltreatment was associated with more severe symptoms of depression (β = 0.23), anxiety (β = 0.21) and perceived stress (β = 0.23) in adulthood, validated particularly for emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Conclusions: The distribution of childhood maltreatment in NAKO is similar to previous reports. Additionally, our results suggest differential associations with psychopathological symptoms for the five types of childhood maltreatment.EISSN
1814-1412Sponsors
The German National Cohort (NAKO) (www.nako.de) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (project numbers: 01ER1301A/B/C and 01ER1511D), the federal states, and the Helmholtz Association, with additional financial support from the participating universities and the participating institutes of the Leibniz Association and the Helmholtz Association. The Helmholtz Society supports the German National Cohort witin its 'Program Oriented Funding (POF) III and IV. This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through ERA-NET NEURON, ‘SynSchiz – Linking synaptic dysfunction to disease mechanisms in schizophrenia – a multilevel investigation’ [01EW1810] to MR, through ERA-NET NEURON ‘Impact of Early life MetaBolic and psychosocial strEss on susceptibility to mental Disorders; from converging epigenetic signatures to novel targets for therapeutic intervention’ [01EW1904] to MR.Scopus Count
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