Objective and Subjective Experiences of Child Maltreatment and their Relationships with Psychopathology

• In Event: The Convergence of Retrospective and Prospective Measures: An Examination of Normative and Atypical Caregiving Experiences

Abstract

Introduction. Childhood maltreatment is a key risk factor for psychopathology across the life course. In order to study the underlying risk mechanisms and deliver treatment, it is important to establish whether the objective or subjective experiences of child maltreatment are more strongly associated with later psychopathology. This key phenomenological issue has been largely ignored in research, where it was assumed that the two measures can used inter-changeably. However, recent meta-analytical work (Baldwin, 2019) showed that this assumption is unsupported.

Hypotheses. Because objective or subjective experiences of child maltreatment identify largely non-overlapping groups, we predict that the two measures will be differentially associated with psychopathology. Because of findings regarding PTSD risk in trauma-exposed adults, we predict that subjective experiences of child maltreatment will be more strongly related to psychopathology than objective experience.

Study population. A US Midwest sample, consisting of 908 people who had been identified as victims of child abuse or neglect in official court records from 1967-1971, alongside a comparison group of 667 people who had been matched on age, sex, ethnicity and family social class but who had no official records of abuse or neglect. The participants were followed up about 20 years later at an average age of 28.7 years and were assessed for psychiatric problems and asked to provide their own accounts of abuse and neglect as children. At follow-up, a total of 1196 participants remained in the sample.

Methods. Objective measures of child abuse and neglect were based on official records from juvenile and adult criminal courts. Subjective measures of maltreatment were based on retrospective self-reports of physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Lifetime and current psychopathology according to DSM-III-R were assessed during a 2-h in-person interview between 1989 and 1995.

Results. Objective and subjective measures of child maltreatment identified largely distinct groups of participants. Those with a combination of subjective reports and official records of childhood maltreatment had a 35% greater risk of experiencing any form of psychopathology compared to those with no measures of maltreatment at all. Those who identified themselves as victims of childhood maltreatment but with no official record of abuse or neglect had a 29% greater risk of any psychopathology. However, those who had official records of childhood maltreatment, but no subjective reports of the experience appeared to be at no greater risk of developing any psychopathology. The findings were invariant across different types of mal-treatment and psychopathology and across genders and races. The findings were not explained by psychopathology at the time subjective experience of maltreatment was assessed and could forecast later psychopathology.

Authors

• Andrea Danese, King's College London
  Presenting Author

• Cathy Spatz Widom, John Jay College
  Non-Presenting Author