From the Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Psychosom Med. 2023 Jun 1;85(5):408-416. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001208. Epub 2023 Apr 26.
Childhood trauma is a key public health risk factor for developing physical illness. This study examined how childhood abuse and neglect predict adult somatic symptoms assessed retrospectively and in real time.
Participants in the HowNutsAreTheDutch project completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form and, to assess somatic symptoms, the cross-sectional Patient Health Questionnaire ( n = 406) or a longitudinal ecological momentary assessment protocol that included responding to an item on physical discomfort 3 times a day for 30 days ( n = 290).
As hypothesized, childhood trauma was positively associated with adult somatic symptoms assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire ( d = 0.30) and assessed using the ecological momentary assessment item ( d = 0.31), also after adjustment for age, sex, educational level, and relationship status. Longitudinally, we also explored whether interpersonal context moderated abuse outcomes, and observed that social company dampened momentary physical discomfort among people with a history of more physical neglect ( d = 0.04).
Childhood trauma, especially emotional and sexual abuse, predicts specific adult somatic symptoms. Future work may examine how symptom expression is influenced by the social lives of traumatized individuals.
儿童期创伤是导致躯体疾病的一个重要公共健康风险因素。本研究旨在探讨儿童期虐待和忽视如何预测成人躯体症状，这些症状是通过回顾性和实时评估来衡量的。
HowNutsAreTheDutch 项目的参与者完成了儿童期创伤问卷-短式表，为了评估躯体症状，他们还使用了横断面患者健康问卷（n=406）或纵向生态瞬时评估方案，该方案包括在 30 天内每天 3 次回答身体不适的项目（n=290）。
正如假设的那样，儿童期创伤与使用患者健康问卷评估的成人躯体症状呈正相关（d=0.30），与使用生态瞬时评估项目评估的躯体症状也呈正相关（d=0.31），即使在调整了年龄、性别、教育程度和关系状况后也是如此。纵向研究中，我们还探讨了人际环境是否调节了虐待的结果，观察到在有更多身体忽视史的人群中，社交伙伴关系减轻了瞬时身体不适（d=0.04）。
儿童期创伤，尤其是情感和性虐待，可预测成人特定的躯体症状。未来的研究可能会探讨创伤个体的社交生活如何影响症状表达。
