Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:00:41.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Childhood maltreatment, juvenile disorders and adult post-traumatic stress disorder: a prospective investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2013

N. Breslau ,
K. C. Koenen ,
Z. Luo ,
J. Agnew-Blais ,
S. Swanson ,
R. M. Houts ,
R. Poulton  and
T. E. Moffitt
N. Breslau*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
K. C. Koenen
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
Z. Luo
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
J. Agnew-Blais
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
S. Swanson
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
R. M. Houts
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
R. Poulton
Affiliation:
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
T. E. Moffitt
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
*
* Address for correspondence: N. Breslau, Ph.D., Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

We examine prospectively the influence of two separate but potentially inter-related factors in the etiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): childhood maltreatment as conferring a susceptibility to the PTSD response to adult trauma and juvenile disorders as precursors of adult PTSD.

Method

The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (DMHDS) is a birth cohort (n = 1037) from the general population of New Zealand's South Island, with multiple assessments up to age 38 years. DSM-IV PTSD was assessed among participants exposed to trauma at ages 26–38. Complete data were available on 928 participants.

Results

Severe maltreatment in the first decade of life, experienced by 8.5% of the sample, was associated significantly with the risk of PTSD among those exposed to adult trauma [odds ratio (OR) 2.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16–6.01], compared to no maltreatment. Moderate maltreatment, experienced by 27.2%, was not associated significantly with that risk (OR 1.55, 95% CI 0.85–2.85). However, the two estimates did not differ significantly from one another. Juvenile disorders (ages 11–15), experienced by 35% of the sample, independent of childhood maltreatment, were associated significantly with the risk of PTSD response to adult trauma (OR 2.35, 95% CI 1.32–4.18).

Conclusions

Severe maltreatment is associated with risk of PTSD response to adult trauma, compared to no maltreatment, and juvenile disorders, independent of earlier maltreatment, are associated with that risk. The role of moderate maltreatment remains unresolved. Larger longitudinal studies are needed to assess the impact of moderate maltreatment, experienced by the majority of adult trauma victims with a history of maltreatment.

Keywords

Juvenile disorderslongitudinal cohortmaltreatmentPTSD
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 9 , July 2014 , pp. 1937 - 1945
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, JC, Williams, S, McGee, R, Silva, PA (1987). DSM-III disorders in preadolescent children. Prevalence in a large sample from the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry 44, 69–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belli, RF, Shay, WL, Stafford, FP (2001). Event history calendars and question list surveys: a direct comparison of interviewing methods. Public Opinion Quarterly 65, 45–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berntsen, D, Johannessen, KB, Thomsen, YD, Bertelsen, M, Hoyle, RH, Rubin, DC (2012). Peace and war: trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms before, during, and after military deployment in Afghanistan. Psychological Science 23, 1557–1565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowman, ML, Yehuda, R (2004). Risk factors and the adversity stress model. In Posttraumatic Stress Disorders: Issues and Controversies (ed. Rosen, R. M.), pp. 15–38. John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester, West Sussex.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremner, JD, Southwick, SM, Johnson, DR, Yehuda, R, Charney, DS (1993). Childhood physical abuse and combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. American Journal of Psychiatry 150, 235–239.Google ScholarPubMed
Breslau, N (2002). Epidemiologic studies of trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other psychiatric disorders. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 47, 923–929.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breslau, N, Chase, GA, Anthony, JC (2002). The uniqueness of the DSM definition of post-traumatic stress disorder: implications for research. Psychological Medicine 32, 573–576.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breslau, N, Chilcoat, HD, Kessler, RC, Davis, GC (1999). Previous exposure to trauma and PTSD effects of subsequent trauma: results from the Detroit area survey of trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 902–907.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breslau, N, Davis, GC, Andreski, P, Peterson, E (1991). Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder in an urban population of young adults. Archives of General Psychiatry 48, 216–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breslau, N, Kessler, R, Chilcoat, HD, Schultz, LR, Davis, GC, Andreski, P (1998). Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in the community: the 1996 Detroit area survey of trauma. Archives of General Psychiatry 55, 626–632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breslau, N, Lucia, VC, Alvarado, GF (2006). Intelligence and other predisposing factors in exposure to trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry 63, 1238–1245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breslau, N, Troost, JP, Bohnert, K, Luo, Z (2013). Influence of predispositions on posttraumatic stress disorder: does it vary by trauma severity? Psychological Medicine 41, 381–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breslau, N, Wilcox, HC, Storr, CL, Lucia, VC, Anthony, JC (2004). Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder: a study of youth in urban America. Journal of Urban Health 81, 530–544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewin, CR, Andrews, B, Valentine, JD (2000). Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 68, 317–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bromet, E, Sonnega, A, Kessler, RC (1998). Risk factors for DSM-III-R posttraumatic stress disorder: findings from the National Comorbidity Survey. American Journal of Epidemiology 147, 353–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caspi, A, McClay, J, Moffitt, TE, Mill, J, Martin, J, Craig, IW, Taylor, A, Poulton, R (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science 297, 851–854. Supporting online material www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5582/851/DC1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, A, Edelbrock, C, Kalas, R, Kessler, M, Klaric, SA (1982). The National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC). NIMH: Rockville, MD. Google Scholar
Danese, A, Pariante, CM, Caspi, A, Taylor, A, Poulton, R (2007). Childhood maltreatment predicts adult inflammation in a life-course study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104, 1319–1324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elley, WB, Irving, JC (1976). Revised socio-economic index for New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 11, 25–56.Google Scholar
Frost, LA, Moffitt, TE, McGee, R (1989). Neuropsychological correlates of psychopathology in an unselected cohort of young adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 98, 307–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galea, S, Ahem, J, Resnick, H, Kilpatrick, D, Bucuvalas, M, Gold, J, Vlahov, D (2002). Psychological sequelae of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. New England Journal of Medicine 346, 982–987.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillespie, CF, Phifer, J, Bradley, B, Ressler, KJ (2009). Risk and resilience: genetic and environmental influences on development of the stress response. Depression and Anxiety 26, 984–992.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, RC, Berglund, P, Demler, O, Jin, R, Merikangas, KR, Walters, EE (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry 62, 593–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, RC, Sonnega, A, Bromet, E, Hughes, M, Nelson, CB (1995). Posttraumatic stress disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry 52, 1048–1060.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim-Cohen, J, Caspi, A, Moffitt, TE, Harrington, H, Milne, BJ, Poulton, R (2003). Prior juvenile diagnoses in adults with mental disorder: developmental follow-back of a prospective-longitudinal cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry 60, 709–717.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenen, KC, Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A, Gregory, A, Harrington, H, Poulton, R (2008). The developmental mental-disorder histories of adults with posttraumatic stress disorder: a prospective longitudinal birth cohort study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 117, 460–466.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenen, KC, Moffitt, TE, Poulton, R, Martin, J, Caspi, A (2007). Early childhood factors associated with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder: results from a longitudinal birth cohort. Psychological Medicine 37, 181–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGee, R, Feehan, M, Williams, S, Partridge, F, Silva, PA, Kelly, J (1990). DSM-III disorders in a large sample of adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 29, 611–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLaughlin, KA, Green, JG, Gruber, MJ, Sampson, NA, Zaslavsky, AM, Kessler, RC (2010). Childhood adversities and adult psychiatric disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication II. Archives of General Psychiatry 67, 124–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
North, CS, Suris, AM, Davis, M, Smith, RP (2009). Toward validation of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 166, 34–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ozer, EJ, Best, SR, Lipsey, TL, Weiss, DS (2003). Predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder and symptoms in adults: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 129, 52–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Post, RM (1992). Transduction of psychosocial stress into the neurobiology of recurrent affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 149, 999–1010.Google ScholarPubMed
Post, RM, Weiss, SR (1998). Sensitization and kindling phenomena in mood, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder: the role of serotonergic mechanisms in illness progression. Biological Psychiatry 44, 193–206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Resnick, HS, Yehuda, R, Pitman, RK, Foy, DW (1995). Effect of previous trauma on acute plasma cortisol level following rape. American Journal of Psychiatry 152, 1675–1677.Google ScholarPubMed
Roberts, AL, Gilman, SE, Breslau, J, Breslau, N, Koenen, KC (2011). Race/ethnic differences in exposure to traumatic events, development of post-traumatic stress disorder, and treatment-seeking for post-traumatic stress disorder in the United States. Psychological Medicine 41, 71–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, LN, Cottler, L, Bucholz, K, Compton, W (1995). Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-IV. Washington University Press: St Louis, MO.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, PR, Rubin, DB (1983). The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects. Biometrika 70, 41–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, KM, Smith, DR, Ellis, PM (2010). Prospectively ascertained child maltreatment and its association with DSM-IV mental disorders in young adults. Archives of General Psychiatry 67, 712–719.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Storr, CL, Ialongo, NS, Anthony, JC, Breslau, N (2007). Childhood antecedents of exposure to traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 164, 119–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Widom, CS (1999). Posttraumatic stress disorder in abused and neglected children grown up. American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 1223–1229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yehuda, R, Flory, JD, Pratchett, LC, Buxbaum, J, Ising, M, Holsboer, F (2010). Putative biological mechanisms for the association between early life adversity and the subsequent development of PTSD. Psychopharmacology 212, 405–417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed