Childhood trauma and childhood urbanicity in relation to psychotic disorder

Abstract

BackgroundUrban upbringing and childhood trauma are both associated with psychotic disorders. However, the association between childhood urbanicity and childhood trauma in psychosis is poorly understood. The urban environment could occasion a background of social adversity against which any effect of childhood trauma increases. Also, any impact of the urban environment on likelihood of exposure to childhood trauma could be stronger in children who later develop psychotic disorder. The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate whether childhood urbanicity moderates the effect of childhood trauma, in a model predicting psychotic disorder; (2) to investigate whether there is an association between the urban environment and childhood trauma and whether this is moderated by genetic liability for psychotic disorder.MethodsPatients with a diagnosis of non-affective psychotic disorder (n = 1119) and 589 healthy controls from the Netherlands and Belgium were studied. Childhood trauma was assessed with the Dutch version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form. Urban exposure was defined at four levels, considering the population density, using data from Statistics Netherlands and the equivalent database in Belgium.ResultsThere was a significant interaction between childhood urbanicity on the one hand and childhood trauma on the other, indicating that trauma was significantly associated with psychotic disorder, with increasing odds ratios for higher levels of childhood urbanicity. In addition, there was weak evidence that childhood urbanicity was associated with childhood trauma in the patient group: higher levels of childhood urbanicity were associated with higher trauma scores.ConclusionThe urban environment may moderate the risk-increasing effect of childhood trauma for psychotic disorder and childhood urbanicity may be a risk factor for childhood trauma in individuals who later develop psychotic disorder.

Interaction of childhood urbanicity and variation in dopamine genes alters adult prefrontal function as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

“…Our method is a modification of more traditional approaches that create create composite urbanicity scores based on yearly measures between 0–15 years old [ 20 – 22 , 53 ]. We note studies that used similar 5-year intervals as ours [ 55 – 57 ] and even coarser measures than ours to calculate urbanicity (e.g. only urbanicity at birth to predict adult psychopathology [ 58 – 59 ].…”

Sense of Coherence and Stress-Related Resilience: Investigating the Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms in the Development of Resilience Following Stress or Adversity

“…However, this may be expected in a general population sample and the lower levels of adversity in the other categories may explain the lack of significant results. Related to this is self-selection bias, which may have influenced the composition of the sample, as individuals who experienced less adversity may be more likely to choose to participate in the study ( 65 ). Similarly, differences observed in SOC-R between participants and drop-outs may indicate a selection bias.…”

Exposure to violence: associations with psychiatric disorders in Brazilian youth

“…These theories could explain the impact of violent experiences on the development of mental health disorders. It is well established that violence negatively affects mental health in childhood, adolescence24,40,41 and adulthood 42-44. Of even greater significance is the impact of these violent experiences throughout the lifespan; the consequences of exposure to violence continue to be felt throughout life, leading to an increased disease burden 4,39,45…”