Childhood Maltreatment and Young Adulthood Hallucinations, Delusional Experiences, and Psychosis: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Child maltreatment is a widespread public health problem associated with a range of mental health disorders later in life. In order to effectively address these disorders, there is a need to understand more about the mental health consequences of different types of child maltreatment. This study examines the associations between prospectively substantiated child maltreatment (ages 0-14 y) and reports of hallucinations and delusional experiences at 21 years after birth. As well, we examined 12-month and lifetime psychotic disorders using data from a longitudinal birth cohort. The study comprised 3752 participants from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy, a prospective Australian prebirth cohort study. Psychotic experiences and 12-month and lifetime psychosis were measured using the Achenbach Young Adults Self-Report, the Peter's Delusions Inventory, and Composite International Diagnostic Interview at the 21-year follow-up. In adjusted analyses, those children who had experienced any maltreatment and who were emotionally abused and neglected were more likely to report (1) hallucinations and lifetime delusional experiences and (2) more likely to experience lifetime psychosis than their nonabused counterparts. In expanded models, those exposed to multiple forms of maltreatment, in particular with emotional abuse and neglect, had an increased likelihood of hallucinations and delusional experiences. There is an association between child maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, and later hallucinations, delusional experiences, and psychosis. It is, however, relevant to note that the vast majority of children experiencing childhood maltreatment do not appear to develop psychotic experiences or psychotic disorder. Further research to determine the reasons for highly variable outcomes of child maltreatment is warranted.

Does child maltreatment predict alcohol use disorders in young adulthood? A cohort study of linked notifications and survey data

“…Our results suggest, however, that the impact of the latter two is underestimated as an influence on alcohol use in young adults. This mirrors growing prospective evidence of the long-term harm of emotional abuse and neglect in terms of a wide range of physical, psychological and substance-related problems [9,11,12,24,[27][28][29]. One possible explanation is that limited parental supervision, permitting association with other like-minded peers, may be a key determinant of early alcohol initiation and continued use [30].…”

“…Substantiated child maltreatment was associated with the following socio-demographic features: an Indigenous background, separated/divorced status, no tertiary education or living in a residential problem area [10,24]. In addition, participants whose mothers had an incomplete high school education or parents who were living apart at the time of their birth and/or on a low income at the time were also more likely to have experienced substantiated abuse [10,11]. These associations were similar among all forms of child maltreatment.…”

“…A further limitation is that most work has considered maltreatment as a whole, or focused on physical and sexual abuse. However, there is growing evidence of the adverse psychological effects of emotional abuse and neglect [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Both may alter the development of brain reward and oxytocin systems in children leading, in turn, to poorer care for the subsequent generation when these individuals become parents themselves [16,17].…”

Pathways from Trauma to Psychotic Experiences: A Theoretically Informed Model of Posttraumatic Stress in Psychosis

“…However, preliminary findings are in line with the proposal that victimization does have a causal effect. Prospective, case-control, and epidemiological studies support an association, and dose-response relationships and mediation by plausible mechanisms have been demonstrated (Hill, 1965; Varese et al, 2012b; Kelleher et al, 2013; Alsawy et al, 2015; Hardy et al, 2016; Amanuel et al, 2017; McGrath et al, 2017). …”

Childhood maltreatment and psychotic experiences: Exploring the specificity of early maladaptive schemas

“…are often exposed to other types (Christoffersen, Armour, Lasgaard, Andersen, & Elklit, 2013;Gilbert et al, 2009). Such experiences, whether by commission (i.e., abuse) or by omission (i.e., neglect) by the child's caregiver, are associated with a range of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, including anxiety, depression, antisocial behaviour and substance-use disorder (Abajobir et al, 2017;Banyard, Williams, & Siegel, 2001;Dias, Sales, Mooren, Mota-Cardoso, & Kleber, 2017;Manly, Cicchetti, & Barnett, 1994;Molendijk, Hoek, Brewerton, & Elzinga, 2017).…”