Childhood maltreatment and DSM-IV adult mental disorders: Comparison of prospective and retrospective findings
Open accessAbstract
Background: Prior research reports stronger associations between childhood maltreatment and adult psychopathology when maltreatment is assessed retrospectively compared with prospectively, casting doubt on the mental health risk conferred by maltreatment and on the validity of retrospective reports. Aims: To investigate associations of psychopathology with prospective v.retrospective maltreatment ascertainment. Method: A nationally representative sample of respondents aged 16–27 years (n= 1413) in New Zealand completed a retrospective assessment of maltreatment and DSM-IV mental disorders. Survey data were linked with a national child protection database to identify respondents with maltreatment records (prospective ascertainment). Results: Childhood maltreatment was associated with elevated odds of mood, anxiety and drug disorders (odds ratios = 2.1–4.1), with no difference in association strength between prospective and retrospective groups. Prospectively ascertained maltreatment predicted unfavourable depression course involving early onset, chronicity and impairment. Conclusions: Prospectively and retrospectively assessed maltreatment elevated the risk of psychopathology to a similar degree. Prospectively ascertained maltreatment predicted a more unfavourable depression course.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Depression is not a homogeneous disorder; depression severity, symptom patterns and age at onset vary considerably between individuals.
“depression is not a homogeneous disorder; instead, depression severity, symptom patterns and age at onset vary considerably between individuals. 3-5”
From Childhood maltreatment and characteristics of adult depression: Meta-analysis (2017) · cites this paper as [4]
The ‘Associations of maltreatment with major depressive disorder onset and course’ section reports different ages at onset across maltreatment groups. It also reports differences in depression-related functional impairment, but does not establish variation in depression symptom severity or symptom patterns between individuals. The source therefore supports only part of the cited sentence. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredProspective and retrospective measures of abuse predict similar rates of mental illness.
“prospective and retrospective measures of abuse predict similar rates of mental illness”
From The effects of psychosocial stress on dopaminergic function and the acute stress response (2019) · cites this paper as Scott et al., 2012
By including brain function, the findings complement prior adolescent longitudinal studies that could not prospectively resolve the childhood trauma-excessive drinking relationship.
“By including brain function, our findings further complement prior longitudinal studies in adolescent samples that have not been able to prospectively resolve the relationship between CT and excessive drinking (58,59).”
From Impact of Childhood Trauma on Executive Function in Adolescence—Mediating Functional Brain Networks and Prediction of High-Risk Drinking (2020) · cites this paper as [59]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
No citation lists for this paper
No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.
References 32 · Cited by 317
Research works printed but not linked: 19
- Gilbert R, Widom CS, Browne K, Fergusson DM, Webb E, Janson S. Child maltreatment I. Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high- income countries. Lancet 2009; 373: 68-81.
- Trickett PK, Noll JG, Putnam FW. The impact of sexual abuse on female development: lessons from a multigenerational, longitudinal research study. Dev Psychopathol 2011; 23: 453-76.
- Lansford JE, Dodge KA, Pettit GS, Bates JE, Crozier J, Kaplow J. A 12-year prospective study of the long-term effects of early child physical maltreatment on psychological, behavioral, and academic problems in adolescence. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2002; 156: 824-30.
- Widom CS, DuMont K, Czaja SJ. A prospective investigation of major depressive disorder and comorbidity in abused and neglected children grown up. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007; 64: 49-56.
- Widom CS, Weiler BL, Cottler LB. Childhood victimization and drug abuse: a comparison of prospective and retrospective findings. J Consult Clin Psychol 1999; 67: 867-80.
- Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, Woodward LJ. The stability of child abuse reports: a longitudinal study of young adults. Psychol Med 2000; 30: 529-44.
- Widom CS, Morris S. Accuracy of adult recollections of childhood victimization: part 2. Childhood sexual abuse. Psychol Assess 1997; 9: 34-46.
- Williams LM. Recall of childhood trauma: a prospective study of women's memories of childhood sexual abuse. J Consult Clin Psychol 1994; 62: 1167-76.
- Loftus EF, Garry M, Feldman J. Forgetting sexual trauma: what does it mean when 38% forget? J Consult Clin Psychol 1994; 62: 1177-81.
- Schacter DL, Koutstaal W, Norman KA. Can cognitive neuroscience illuminate the nature of traumatic childhood memories? Curr Opin Neurobiol 1996; 6: 207-14.
- Ross M. Relation of implicit theories to the construction of personal histories. Psychol Rev 1989; 96: 341-57.
- Blaney PH. Affect and memory: a review. Psychol Bull 1986; 99: 229-46.
- Williams JMG, Watts FN, MacLeod C, Mathews A. Cognitive Psychology and Emotional Disorders (2nd edn). John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
- Wells JE, Oakley Browne MA, Scott KM, McGee MA, Baxter J, Kokaua J. Te Rau Hinengaro: the New Zealand Mental Health Survey (NZMHS): overview of methods and findings. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2006; 40: 835-44.
- Shah BV. Linearization methods of variance estimation. In Encyclopedia of Biostatistics (eds P Armitage, T Colton): 2276-9. John Wiley and Sons, 1998.
- Nanni V, Uher R, Danese A. Childhood maltreatment predicts unfavourable course of illness and treatment outcome in depression: a meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 2012; 169: 141-51.
- Mullen PE, Martin JL, Anderson JC, Romans SE, Herbison GP. Childhood sexual abuse and mental health in adult life. Br J Psychiatry 1993; 163: 721-32.
- Kendler KS, Kuhn JW, Prescott CA. Childhood sexual abuse, stressful life events and risk for major depression in women. Psychol Med 2004; 34: 1475-82.
- Widom CS, Raphael KG, DuMont K. The case for prospective longitudinal studies in child maltreatment research: commentary on Dube, Williamson, Thompson, Felitti and Anda (2004). Child Abuse Negl 2004; 28: 715-22.
- Authors
- Scott, K. M., McLaughlin, K. A., Smith, D. A. R., & Ellis, P. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Otago (NZ)
- Boston Children's Hospital (US)
- Corresponding author
- Scott, Kate M.
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2012-06
- Volume
- 200
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 469-475
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- PMC
- PMC3365274
- OpenAlex
- W2155422242
- Cited by
- 317
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 24.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (R01 DA016558, R13-MH066849)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Pfizer
- GlaxoSmithKline
- World Health Organization
- Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand
- National Institutes of Health (5r13mh066849-04, 5r01mh069864-04, 5r01mh070884-05)
- Pfizer Foundation (R01‐MH069864, R01-DA016558, R13-MH066849)
- Pan American Health Organization
- Health Research Council of New Zealand
- National Institute of Mental Health (R13-MH-066849, R01‐MH070884, MH069864, MH066849, K01MH092526, R01‐MH069864)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA016558)
- Fogarty International Center (FIRCA R01-TW006481, R01-TW006481, R03TW006481)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- child abuse, adult psychopathology, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, course of depression, child protection records, early-onset depression, chronic depression
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Mental Disorders, Child, Child Abuse, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Male, New Zealand, Prospective Studies, Retrospective Studies, Age of Onset, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
