Multi-type Childhood Abuse, Strategies of Coping, and Psychological Adaptations in Young Adults

Abstract

Aim To retrospectively analyze the rate of multi-type abuse in childhood and the effects of childhood abuse and type of coping strategies on the psychological adaptation of young adults in a sample form the student population of the University of Mostar. MethodsThe study was conducted on a convenience sample of 233 students from the University of Mostar (196 female and 37 male), with a median age of 20 (interquartile range, 2). Exposure to abuse was determined using the Child Maltreatment Scales for Adults, which assesses emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing family violence. Psychological adaptation was explored by the Trauma Symptom Checklist, which assesses anxiety/ depression, sexual problems, trauma symptoms, and somatic symptoms. Strategies of coping with stress were explored by the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations.Results Multi-type abuse in childhood was experienced by 172 participants (74%) and all types of abuse by 11 (5%) participants. Emotional and physical maltreatment were the most frequent types of abuse and mostly occurred together with other types of abuse. Significant association was found between all types of abuse (r = 0.436-0.778, P < 0.050). Exposure to sexual abuse in childhood and coping strategies were significant predictors of anxiety/depression (R 2 = 0.3553), traumatic symptoms (R 2 = 0.2299), somatic symptoms (R 2 = 0.2173), and sexual problems (R 2 = 0.1550, P < 0.001). ConclusionExposure to multi-type abuse in childhood is a traumatic experience with long-term negative effects. Problem-oriented coping strategies ensure a better psychosocial adaptation than emotion-oriented strategies.

Height deficit in early adulthood following substantiated childhood maltreatment: A birth cohort study

“…The specific associations may be explained by "differential effects model" (Senn and Carey, 2010) where individual maltreatment type leads to specific detrimental developmental outcomes (Lau et al, 2005;Senn and Carey, 2010) including substance use disorders (Arata et al, 2007). According to the "general effects model" (Senn and Carey, 2010), co-occurring (Arata et al, 2007) and multiple episodes of maltreatment, may also predict later psychopathic conditions through poor coping strategies, behavioral maladaptation (Jackson et al, 2014;Sesar et al, 2010), and substance use disorders including cannabis (Arata et al, 2007). Indeed, an earlier study using the same dataset reported that different types of substantiated childhood maltreatment predicted cannabis use disorders overall .…”

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“…Daudzos pētījumos izvairīšanās netiek uzskatīta par adaptīvu stresa pārvarēšanas stratēģiju ilgtermiņā (Sesar, Simic, & Barisic, 2010). Turklāt izvairīšanās tiek saistīta ar internalizētām un eksternalizētām grūtībām -depresiju , trauksmi (Blalock & Joiner, 2000), pēctraumatiskā stresa traucējumiem (Street, Gibson, & Holohan, 2005), riskantu uzvedību (Spaccarelli & Fuchs, 1997).…”

“…Folkmane un Lazaruss skaidro, ka indivīda pašizjūtu uzlabo tas, ja viņš var atrisināt stresu izraisošas problēmas, turklāt, plānojot problēmas risināšanu, tas var uzlabot savstarpējās attiecības, pozitīvi mainīt kogitīvo novērtējumu un veicināt pozitīvas sekas emocionālajā sfērā (Folkman & Lazarus, 1990; kā minēts Sesar et al, 2010).…”

Childhood Maltreatment and County-Level Deprivation Jointly Modify the Effect of Serotonin Transporter Promoter Genotype on Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls

“…Mixed models have proven to be useful when dealing with nested and clustered data (Searle et al, 1992). In our analysis, level 1 refers to the repeated measurements of individuals' depressive symptom scores, level 2 refers to the individual respondent, and level 3 refers to the family cluster to which the respondent belongs.…”