Background

While the link between maltreatment and mental illness has been largely established, there is a need to better understand how certain types or profiles of maltreatment place youth at heightened risk for depression and traumatic stress, and when the risk of developing symptoms may be greatest.

Objective

We examined the extent to which youth experiences of maltreatment co-occur and how certain combinations of maltreatment work to influence the subsequent development of depression and post-traumatic stress over time.

Participants & setting

Data were drawn from NSCAW-II, a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 5872 child welfare involved youth, aged 0–18.

Methods

Latent Class Analysis was used to investigate profiles of child maltreatment. We then used a longitudinal three-wave panel design to examine whether membership in various maltreatment classes predicted development of depression and post-traumatic stress measured at two future time points.

Results

Three classes emerged: Class 1 (68 %) the “Neglect and Adverse Parental Behaviors Class”, Class 2 (20 %) the “Physical Abuse Class”, and Class 3 (12 %) the “Sexual Abuse Class”. Membership in Class 2 increased depression and trauma symptoms at Wave 2, compared to Class 1 (b = 1.8 and 1.4, respectively; p < 0.05).

Membership in Class 3 increased trauma symptoms at Wave 3, compared to Class 1 and Class 2 (b = 2.3 and 2.7, respectively; p < 0.01).

Implications

Child welfare involved youth need to be appropriately screened for psychiatric health annually and provided with services that correspond with their level of need.

中文翻译：

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虐待班级成员对创伤后压力和抑郁的纵向影响

背景

虽然虐待与精神疾病之间的联系已基本确立，但仍需要更好地了解某些类型或特征的虐待如何使青少年面临更高的抑郁和创伤压力风险，以及何时出现症状的风险可能最大。

客观的

我们研究了青少年同时遭受虐待的程度，以及某些虐待组合如何影响随后的抑郁症和创伤后压力的发展。

参与者和设置

数据来自 NSCAW-II，这是一个具有全国代表性的纵向样本，涉及 5872 名 0-18 岁的儿童福利青少年。

方法

潜在类别分析用于调查虐待儿童的概况。然后，我们使用纵向三波面板设计来检查各种虐待类别的成员资格是否可以预测在未来两个时间点测量的抑郁症和创伤后压力的发展。

结果

出现了三个等级：1 级（68%）“忽视和不良父母行为等级”、2 级（20%）“身体虐待等级”和 3 级（12%）“性虐待等级”。与第 1 类相比，第 2 类的成员在第 2 波中增加了抑郁和创伤症状（b = 1.8 和 1.4；p < 0.05）。

与第 1 类和第 2 类相比，第 3 类的成员增加了第 3 波的创伤症状（b = 2.3 和 2.7，分别；p < 0.01）。

影响

需要每年对涉及儿童福利的青少年进行适当的精神健康筛查，并提供与其需求水平相对应的服务。