Network analysis of exposure to trauma and childhood adversities in a clinical sample of youth.

Abstract

Categorizing and quantifying exposure to trauma and childhood adversities (CAs) presents a significant measurement and analytic challenge. The current study examined the co-occurrence of trauma and CA types using network analyses, an alternative to traditional measurement models. The Trauma History Profile, assessing lifetime exposure to 20 different trauma and CA types, was administered to 618 treatment-seeking children and youth ages 4 to 18 years (52.8% female). The generalized similarity model (Kovács, 2010) was used to construct a network of trauma/CA types to visualize relationships and detect cohesive groups. Four clusters of trauma/CA types emerged: overt forms occurring at the individual level (e.g., physical, sexual, and psychological maltreatment), environmental forms at the family level (e.g., neglect, impaired caregiving), environmental forms occurring at the community level (e.g., community and school violence), and acute forms (e.g., loss, medical trauma). Age of onset data indicated that neglect and psychological maltreatment were most predictive of later occurrences of other trauma and CAs. Structural equation modeling indicated that trauma/CA clusters displayed specific associations with posttraumatic stress, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms. Results demonstrate the potential utility of network analysis to understand the co-occurrence and temporal ordering of multiple types of trauma and CAs. Public Significance StatementThis study applies a novel statistical approach, network analysis, to examine how different types of childhood trauma and adversity co-occur in a treatment-seeking group of youth, suggesting that childhood trauma and adversity types tend to cluster together across different levels of the environment.

Emotional Intelligence for Coping with the Consequences of Childhood Trauma

“…The outbreak of chronic stress induced by childhood trauma is directly related to the emotional processes derived from adverse experiences [9,27]. A traumatic experience can cause anguish and suffering, leading the individual to a state of chronic emotional stress [27][28][29]. The emotional repercussions of trauma can be conscious or unconscious, since the individual perception will depend on the stimulus received from the environment since childhood [30,31].…”

A Network Approach to Examining Co-occurring Victimization and Perpetration in Dating Abuse Among a Nationally Representative Sample of US Adolescents

“…While network research in the social and behavioral sciences has often focused on relationships between persons, nodes can be virtually anything (e.g., individuals, organizations, or experiences) [17e19]. Analogous examples are networks of co-occurring psychopathological symptoms (e.g., sleep difficulties, hyperarousal, and memory loss) [19,20], traumatic experiences (e.g., psychological maltreatment, neglect, and domestic violence) [21,22], or criminal activity (e.g., domestic violence and violent offenses) [23]. Prior studies demonstrate that network analyses can reveal a complex system of interrelated symptoms, experiences, and behaviors while highlighting the significance of each to the overall system [21,22].…”

“…Analogous examples are networks of co-occurring psychopathological symptoms (e.g., sleep difficulties, hyperarousal, and memory loss) [19,20], traumatic experiences (e.g., psychological maltreatment, neglect, and domestic violence) [21,22], or criminal activity (e.g., domestic violence and violent offenses) [23]. Prior studies demonstrate that network analyses can reveal a complex system of interrelated symptoms, experiences, and behaviors while highlighting the significance of each to the overall system [21,22]. From a practical point of view, a network approach can guide early intervention efforts by identifying which nodes may signal the onset of other nodes that they are directly or indirectly connected to.…”

Understanding social adversity and stress and mood symptoms: The Bayesian network approach

“…Previous studies have found that psychological maltreatment are related to posttraumatic stress symptoms (e.g. Caston and Frazier, 2013; Gilman et al, 2013; Hodgdon et al, 2019; McIlveen et al, 2019). Thus, viewing from the lens of the theory of capture, we expect that social adversity may overly focus attention on the negative perceptions of an event.…”