Adolescent abuse victims displayed physical health complaints and trauma symptoms during post disclosure interviews

Abstract

Aim: We investigated whether adolescents who had recently disclosed sexual abuse or family violence displayed more psychological trauma symptoms and physical health complaints than unaffected controls. We also investigated to what degree physical health complaints were associated with trauma symptoms in these abuse victims. Methods: Abuse, trauma symptoms and physical health complaints were assessed during face-to-face interviews with 40 sexual abuse victims and 35 family violence victims aged 10-18 years. They had all attended forensic interviews at the Barnehus in Oslo, a specialised Norwegian police unit where evidence is gathered in adolescentfriendly surroundings, from October 2016 to November 2018. Their symptoms were compared with 41 controls from the general population. Linear regression analyses investigated associations between trauma symptoms and physical health complaints. Results: Sexually abused adolescents displayed higher levels of post-traumatic stress reactions, depression, dissociation and physical health complaints than unaffected controls. Family violence victims displayed higher levels of post-traumatic stress reactions. Trauma symptoms were associated with physical health complaints, and these were most prominent in the adolescents with the highest burden of symptoms. Conclusion: Based on the high burden of symptoms revealed, clinical examinations of abused adolescents should include a systematic assessment of trauma symptoms and physical health complaints. K E Y W O R D S child abuse, physical health complaints, post-traumatic stress reactions, trauma symptoms, violence in close relationships 1 | INTRODUC TI ON Child abuse has profound and enduring effects on psychological and physical health throughout life. 1,2 Studies that have investigated child abuse in relation to trauma symptoms and physical health have shown that such symptoms may co-occur as early as in adolescence and young adulthood. 3,4 However, studies conducted with children and adolescents are rare and their findings have been inconsistent. One study examined the physical health complaints reported by sexually abused children who had post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Barriers and Facilitators to Abuse Disclosure and Psychosocial Support Needs in Children and Adolescents Around the Time of Disclosure

“…Understanding disclosure is important because it enables children to receive help for abuse experiences, and potentially ameliorate abuse sequelae. Moreover, disclosures may be facilitated through formal help-seeking behaviors, as child victims of abuse experience somatic and mental health problems that in some instances result in consultations with health practitioners (Rueness et al, 2020).…”

“…Thirteen adolescents (nine girls) between 12-16 years of age were approached at least half a year after participating in a larger study on adolescents' mental and somatic health at the time abuse was disclosed and police interview(s) took place at a Norwegian Barnahus (see Rueness et al, 2020 for a description of the host study). Participants were approached by the research team by phone if they had initially agreed to be re-contacted.…”

“…Accounts regarding help-seeking behaviors revealed that few adult helpers asked adolescents directly about abuse, even when adolescents showed symptoms that commonly manifest after abuse experiences (cf. Rueness et al, 2020). At the same time, when adolescents were asked directly, not all felt comfortable disclosing to a health professional.…”

Validation of the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form and trauma prevalence in Colombia.

“…There is increasing evidence of such effects on a variety of aspects. ETIs can affect physical health (Porcerelli et al, 2017; Rueness et al, 2020) by affecting a multitude of processes, such as increasing the likelihood of suffering from cardiovascular (Kendall-Tackett, 2007; Kumari & Mukhopadhyay, 2020), respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases (Bradford et al, 2012; Sowder et al, 2018), chronic pain (Kendall-Tackett et al, 2003), immune system deficiencies (Baumeister et al, 2016. Danese & Lewis, 2017), fibromyalgia (Haviland et al, 2010), sleep disorders (Clum et al, 2001), obesity (Danese & Tan, 2013), migraines (Tietjen et al, 2010), among others.…”