Department of Community Medicine, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Hansine Hansens veg 18, Tromsø, 9019, Norway.
Centre for Sami Health Research, Department of Community Medicine, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Hansine Hansens veg 18, Tromsø, 9019, Norway.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Jun 21;24(1):754. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-11211-9.
Emotional abuse in childhood is the most common type of childhood abuse worldwide and is associated with a variety of somatic and mental health issues. However, globally and in indigenous contexts, research on the associations between emotional abuse in childhood and somatic and mental specialist healthcare utilization in adulthood is sparse.
The main aim of this study was to investigate the association between emotional abuse in childhood and somatic and mental specialist healthcare utilization in adulthood in Sami and non-Sami populations, and to examine whether this association differs between the two ethnic groups.
This study used cross-sectional data from the SAMINOR 2 Questionnaire Survey - a population-based study on health and living conditions in areas with Sami and non-Sami populations in Middle and Northern Norway. In total, 11 600 individuals participated in SAMINOR 2. Logistic regression was used to present the association between emotional abuse in childhood and somatic and mental specialist healthcare utilization.
Emotional abuse in childhood was significantly associated with somatic specialist healthcare utilization in adulthood (fully adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15-1.49), with no differences observed between ethnic groups. Emotional abuse in childhood was also associated with mental specialist healthcare utilization (fully adjusted OR 3.99, 95% CI 3.09-5.14), however this association was weaker among Sami (crude OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.37-4.13) compared with non-Sami (crude OR 5.40, 95% Cl 4.07-7.15) participants.
Emotional abuse in childhood is associated with somatic and mental specialist healthcare utilization in adulthood, with a stronger association to mental healthcare utilization. The association between emotional abuse in childhood and mental specialist healthcare utilization was weaker among Sami than non-Sami participants. Future studies should investigate the reason for this ethnic difference. Our results highlight the need to strengthen efforts to prevent childhood abuse and develop strategies to reduce its societal and personal burden.
儿童期情感虐待是全球最常见的儿童虐待类型，与各种躯体和心理健康问题有关。然而，在全球范围内以及在土著背景下，关于儿童期情感虐待与成年后躯体和精神专科医疗保健利用之间的关联的研究很少。
本研究的主要目的是调查儿童期情感虐待与成年后躯体和精神专科医疗保健利用之间的关联，以及这种关联在两个种族群体之间是否存在差异。
本研究使用了来自 SAMINOR 2 问卷调查的横断面数据 - 这是一项针对挪威中部和北部有萨米人和非萨米人居住地区的健康和生活条件的基于人群的研究。共有 11600 人参加了 SAMINOR 2。使用逻辑回归来呈现儿童期情感虐待与成年后躯体和精神专科医疗保健利用之间的关联。
儿童期情感虐待与成年后躯体专科医疗保健利用显著相关（完全调整后的优势比 [OR] 1.31，95%置信区间 [CI] 1.15-1.49），且在两个种族群体之间没有差异。儿童期情感虐待也与精神专科医疗保健利用相关（完全调整后的 OR 3.99，95%CI 3.09-5.14），但在萨米人（粗 OR 2.38，95%CI 1.37-4.13）中这种关联弱于非萨米人（粗 OR 5.40，95%CI 4.07-7.15）参与者。
儿童期情感虐待与成年后躯体和精神专科医疗保健利用相关，与精神保健利用的关联更强。儿童期情感虐待与精神专科医疗保健利用之间的关联在萨米人中比非萨米人弱。未来的研究应调查这种种族差异的原因。我们的研究结果强调了需要加强努力预防儿童虐待，并制定策略来减轻其对社会和个人的负担。
