The invisible scars of emotional abuse: a common and highly harmful form of childhood maltreatment
| Autor: | Mauro V. Mendlowicz, Liliane Maria Pereira Vilete, Raquel Menezes Gonçalves, Sérgio de Souza Junior, Ivan Figueira, Liana C. L. Portugal, Camila Monteiro Fabricio Gama, Mirtes G. Pereira, Eliane Volchan, Isabel A. David, Leticia de Oliveira |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
lcsh:RC435-571 Revictimization Stress Disorders Post-Traumatic Childhood maltreatment 03 medical and health sciences Emotional abuse 0302 clinical medicine lcsh:Psychiatry Surveys and Questionnaires Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Child Abuse Child Psychological abuse 05 social sciences Symptom severity Posttraumatic stress disorder Mental health 030227 psychiatry Psychiatry and Mental health Posttraumatic stress Increased risk Physical abuse Psychology Research Article 050104 developmental & child psychology Clinical psychology |
| Zdroj: | BMC Psychiatry BMC Psychiatry, Vol 21, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 1471-244X |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12888-021-03134-0 |
| Popis: | Background Childhood maltreatment (CM) is unfortunately widespread globally and has been linked with an increased risk of a variety of psychiatric disorders in adults, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These associations are well established in the literature for some maltreatment forms, such as sexual and physical abuse. However, the effects of emotional maltreatment are much less explored, even though this type figures among the most common forms of childhood maltreatment. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the impact of each type of childhood maltreatment, both individually and conjointly, on revictimization and PTSD symptom severity using a nonclinical college student sample. Methods Five hundred and two graduate and undergraduate students participated in the study by completing questionnaires assessing lifetime traumatic experiences in general, maltreatment during childhood and PTSD symptoms. Bivariate and multivariate negative binomial regressions were applied to examine the associations among childhood maltreatment, revictimization, and PTSD symptom severity. Results Our results showed that using bivariate models, all types of CM were significantly associated with revictimization and PTSD symptom severity. Multivariate models showed that emotional abuse was the type of maltreatment associated with the highest incidence rates of revictimization and PTSD symptom severity. Conclusions These data provide additional evidence of the harmful effects of childhood maltreatment and its long-term consequences for individuals’ mental health. Notably, the findings highlight the importance of studying the impacts of emotional abuse, which seems to be a highly prevalent, understudied, and chronic form of maltreatment that is as toxic as other maltreatment forms. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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