Institute of Clinical Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Psychol Med. 2021 Sep;51(12):2063-2073. doi: 10.1017/S0033291720000823. Epub 2020 Apr 20.
Childhood abuse and neglect often occurs within families and can have a large influence on mental well-being across the lifespan. However, the sibling concordance of emotional abuse and neglect (i.e. together referred to as emotional maltreatment; EM), physical abuse (PA) and sexual abuse (SA) and the long-term impact on the context of siblings' maltreatment experiences are unclear. To examine the influence of EM, PA and SA on adult depressive symptoms within the family framework we differentiate between (a) the family-wide (mean level of all siblings) effects and (b) the individual deviation from the mean family level of maltreatment.
The sample ( = 636) consists of 256 families, including at least one lifetime depressed or anxious individual and their siblings. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the family-wide and relative individual effects of childhood maltreatment (CM).
(a) Siblings showed most similarity in their reports of EM followed by PA. SA was mostly reported by one person within a family. In line with these observations, the mean family levels of EM and PA, but not SA, were associated with more depressive symptoms. In addition, (b) depression levels were more elevated in individuals reporting more EM than the family mean.
Particularly in the case of more visible forms of CM, siblings' experiences of EM and PA are associated with the elevated levels of adult depressive symptoms. Findings implicate that in addition to individual maltreatment experiences, the context of siblings' experiences is another crucial risk factor for an individuals' adult depressive symptomatology.
儿童期虐待和忽视通常发生在家庭中，会对整个生命周期的心理健康产生重大影响。然而，情感虐待和忽视（即统称情感虐待；EM）、身体虐待（PA）和性虐待（SA）在兄弟姐妹之间的一致性以及对兄弟姐妹虐待经历背景的长期影响尚不清楚。为了在家庭框架内研究 EM、PA 和 SA 对成年抑郁症状的影响，我们区分了（a）家庭范围内（所有兄弟姐妹的平均水平）的影响和（b）个体相对于家庭平均虐待水平的偏差。
该样本（n = 636）包括 256 个家庭，其中至少有一个患有终生抑郁或焦虑症的个体及其兄弟姐妹。多水平模型用于检查童年期虐待（CM）的家庭范围和相对个体影响。
（a）兄弟姐妹在 EM 方面的报告最相似，其次是 PA。SA 主要由家庭中的一个人报告。与这些观察结果一致，EM 和 PA 的家庭平均水平，但不是 SA，与更多的抑郁症状相关。此外，（b）报告 EM 比家庭平均水平多的个体的抑郁水平更高。
特别是在更明显的 CM 情况下，兄弟姐妹的 EM 和 PA 经历与成年抑郁症状的升高水平有关。研究结果表明，除了个体虐待经历外，兄弟姐妹经历的背景也是个体成年抑郁症状的另一个关键风险因素。
