MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA.
J Psychiatr Res. 2018 Jan;96:57-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.09.020. Epub 2017 Sep 21.
Both prospective informant-reports and retrospective self-reports may be used to measure childhood maltreatment, though both methods entail potential limitations such as underestimation and memory biases. The validity and utility of standard measures of childhood maltreatment requires clarification in order to inform the design of future studies investigating the mental health consequences of maltreatment. The present study assessed agreement between prospective informant-reports and retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment, as well as the comparative utility of both reports for predicting a range of psychiatric problems at age 18. Data were obtained from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative birth cohort of 2232 children followed to 18 years of age (with 93% retention). Childhood maltreatment was assessed in two ways: (i) prospective informant-reports from caregivers, researchers, and clinicians when children were aged 5, 7, 10 and 12; and (ii) retrospective self-reports of maltreatment experiences occurring up to age 12, obtained at age 18 using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Participants were privately interviewed at age 18 concerning several psychiatric problems including depression, anxiety, self-injury, alcohol/cannabis dependence, and conduct disorder. There was only slight to fair agreement between prospective and retrospective reports of childhood maltreatment (all Kappa's ≤ 0.31). Both prospective and retrospective reports of maltreatment were associated with age-18 psychiatric problems, though the strongest associations were found when maltreatment was retrospectively self-reported. These findings indicate that prospective and retrospective reports of childhood maltreatment capture largely non-overlapping groups of individuals. Young adults who recall being maltreated have a particularly elevated risk for psychopathology.
前瞻性知情者报告和回顾性自我报告均可用于测量儿童期虐待，但两种方法都存在潜在的局限性，如低估和记忆偏差。为了为未来研究虐待对心理健康的后果提供信息，需要明确标准儿童虐待测量方法的有效性和实用性。本研究评估了前瞻性知情者报告和回顾性自我报告儿童期虐待之间的一致性，以及这两种报告对预测 18 岁时一系列精神问题的比较实用性。数据来自环境风险（E-Risk）纵向双胞胎研究，这是一项全国代表性的出生队列研究，对 2232 名儿童进行了随访，直到 18 岁（保留率为 93%）。儿童虐待通过两种方式进行评估：（i）当儿童 5、7、10 和 12 岁时，照顾者、研究人员和临床医生提供的前瞻性知情者报告；（ii）使用儿童创伤问卷在 18 岁时获得的 12 岁之前发生的虐待经历的回顾性自我报告。在 18 岁时，参与者私下接受了关于几种精神问题的采访，包括抑郁、焦虑、自我伤害、酒精/大麻依赖和行为障碍。前瞻性和回顾性儿童虐待报告之间的一致性仅为轻微到适度（所有 Kappa's ≤ 0.31）。虐待的前瞻性和回顾性报告都与 18 岁时的精神问题有关，但当虐待通过回顾性自我报告时，相关性最强。这些发现表明，前瞻性和回顾性儿童虐待报告所捕获的个体群体在很大程度上是不重叠的。回忆被虐待的年轻人患精神病理学的风险特别高。
