Psychometric functioning, socio-demographic variability of childhood maltreatment in the general population and its effects of depression.

Maltreatment of children is a major public-health and social-welfare problem but socio-demographic variability has received little attention. This work addresses such variability in a general population cohort and associations with depression. Analyses were based on the cross-sectional SHIP-LEGEND examination among 2265 adults (29-89 years). Childhood maltreatment was multi-dimensionally assessed with the German 28-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ): emotional neglect; emotional abuse; physical neglect; physical abuse; sexual abuse. Non-linear associations between CTQ responses and age were assessed with fractional polynomials and cubic splines. Scale properties were analysed with confirmatory factor analyses and item response models. Associations between childhood maltreatment domains and depression [Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)] were assessed. The majority (58.9%) reported events indicative of at least mild levels of childhood maltreatment. CTQ subscales showed characteristically different non-linear associations to age across the five studied domains, indicating methodological issues like recall bias and the influence of seminal events. Psychometric scale properties were acceptable to good for all subscales except for physical neglect. Associations to depression measures varied systematically across socio-demographic strata. We conclude that socio-demographic variability is a major issue when studying self-reported childhood maltreatment in a community sample. This needs to be taken into account for the study of associations to psychiatric key outcomes.

[Is there an association between intra-familiar sexual abuse and sexual offences in later life?]. / Gibt es eine Assoziation zwischen familiärem sexuellen Missbrauch und späteren Sexualstraftaten?

OBJECTIVE: 12-35% of all sexual delinquents report victimization through early sexual abuse. To date, studies are based on small samples and mostly come from English-language countries. METHODS: As part of an interdisciplinary study on the human rights situation in long-term imprisonment, we examined 1,055 prisoners from 11 countries in Europe with the posttraumatic stress diagnostic scale (PDS) concerning their traumas in relation to their offences. RESULTS: Sexual delinquents who reported own prior sexual abuse within the family had a fourfold increase in committing sexual offences later in their life compared to other offenders. CONCLUSIONS: A detailed trauma history which includes sexual offences within the family is essential for adequate therapy and relapse prevention.

[A brief instrument for the assessment of childhood abuse and neglect: the childhood trauma screener (CTS)]. / Ein Screeninginstrument für Missbrauch und Vernachlässigung in der Kindheit: der Childhood Trauma Screener (CTS).

OBJECTIVE: There is a lack of a psychometrically sound screening questionnaire that assesses important dimensions of traumatic experiences during childhood and adolescence in a time-efficient way. Based on the German version of the "Childhood Trauma Questionnaire" (CTQ, 28 items) we developed a five-item self-report childhood trauma screener (CTS) that covers sexual, emotional and physical abuse and emotional and physical neglect. METHOD: The data set of the SHIP-LEGEND study (n = 1668) was used to extract five items of the CTQ that optimally covered the five dimensions and showed a high correlation with the total score. In two validation samples (clinical sample [n = 211] and subjects from the BiDirect study [n = 288]) the psychometric properties of the CTS were evaluated. RESULTS: The correlations between the five CTS Items and the corresponding dimensions from the CTQ were r = 0.55 to 0.87 (p < 0.0001) within the clinical sample. Furthermore, we found high correlations (r = 0.88; p < 0.0001) with the total CTQ score. The internal consistency was 0.757 (Cronbachs α). CONCLUSION: The CTS is a reliable, valid and economic screener for the retrospective assessment of adverse childhood experiences especially in large epidemiological studies.