Temporal stability and state-dependence of retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment in healthy and depressed adults.

Abstract

Retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment (CM) are widely used. However, their validity has been questioned due to potential depressive bias. Yet, investigations of this matter are sparse. Thus, we investigated to what extent retrospective maltreatment reports vary in relation to longitudinal changes in depressive symptomatology. Two-year temporal stability of maltreatment reports was assessed via the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). We included a total of n = 419 healthy controls (HC), n = 347 MDD patients, and a subsample with an initial depressive episode between both assessments (n = 27), from two independent cohorts (Marburg-Münster-affective-disorders-cohort-study and Münster-Neuroimaging-cohort). Analysis plan and hypotheses were preregistered prior to data analysis. Dimensional CTQ scores were highly stable in HC and MDD across both cohorts (ICC = .956; 95% CI [.949, .963] and ICC = .950; 95% CI [.933, .963]) and temporal stability did not differ between groups. Stability was lower for cutoff-based binary CTQ scores (K = .551; 95% CI [.479, .622] and K = .507; 95% CI [.371, .640]). Baseline dimensional CTQ scores were associated with concurrent and future BDI scores. However, longitudinal changes in BDI scores predicted variability in dimensional CTQ scores only to a small extent across cohorts (b = 0.101, p = .009, R 2 = .021 and b = 0.292, p = .320), with the effect being driven by emotional maltreatment subscales. Findings suggest that the CTQ provides temporally stable self-reports of CM in healthy and depressed populations and is only marginally biased by depressive symptomatology. A dimensional rather than binary conceptualization of maltreatment is advised for improving psychometric quality.

Pathways between childhood maltreatment and life satisfaction in adolescents with eating disorders: A network analysis

“…A further limitation is the use of the CTQ, which although well‐validated and highly used in literature, does not allow to collect the time in which the trauma occurred or its frequency, it is affected by possible recall biases and, in the current sample, the consistency coefficient of the physical neglect subscore was low. However, recent research indicates that CTQ scores show sufficient stability over the course of major depression (Goltermann et al., 2022). Finally, the lack of a group of healthy adolescents and the large proportion of female adolescents with anorexia nervosa restricting type enrolled in the study limit the generalizability of the findings.…”

Resting‐state cerebral blood flow and functional connectivity abnormalities in depressed patients with childhood maltreatment: Potential biomarkers of vulnerability?

“…70 The CTQ is a temporally stable tool for evaluating CM retrospectively and is not susceptible to depressive symptomatology. 71 On the other, as the specific type and dose of all drugs were not available for all patients, the potential impact of treatment should not be dismissed. Treatment-naive individuals with similar clinical characteristics were mainly preferred.…”

“…While the size of any recall bias was inadequate to pose a significant threat to study validity 70 . The CTQ is a temporally stable tool for evaluating CM retrospectively and is not susceptible to depressive symptomatology 71 . On the other, as the specific type and dose of all drugs were not available for all patients, the potential impact of treatment should not be dismissed.…”

Subjective experiences of life events match individual differences in personality development.

“…Participants may generally recall events that are vivid, even if those events were inert (Kahneman et al, 1982) and may ignore subtle events, even if those events were impactful. They may also be biased by their present circumstances when retrospecting on their past, reducing correspondence (but see Goltermann et al, 2023). Correspondence between perceived and measured change may also be reduced if participants are primarily attentive to how events have affected their identity and use that to erroneously infer change in personality traits.…”