Altpeter Adriana, Dixius Andrea, Möhler Eva
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany.
SHG Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 66119 Saarbruecken, Germany.
Children (Basel). 2024 Nov 26;11(12):1427. doi: 10.3390/children11121427.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have already been associated, in some studies, with various diverse psychosocial abnormalities in later life. However, it is still unclear whether ACEs reported by biological parents differ from ACE scores in community samples. : The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which parents of a patient sample differ from a community sample in terms of reporting childhood experiences. In addition, the connection between parental negative traumatic experiences and their children's reporting of these experiences should be examined in more detail. : In total, 256 child psychiatric patients (73.8% female and 26.2% male) aged 4-18 years (mean [M] = 13.26 years, standard deviation [SD] = 2.73) were retrospectively examined for post-traumatic stress symptoms (using the CATS questionnaire). In addition, 391 caregivers, 316 of whom were biological parents, completed the ACE questionnaire on adverse childhood experiences. The frequencies of ACEs of the parents, the traumatic experiences of the patients and their cumulative occurrence were evaluated descriptively. : A total of 139 (73%) mothers reported at least one negative experience in childhood. In contrast, 65 fathers (52%) reported at least one negative experience in childhood. Mothers most frequently mentioned separation from a parent (38.7%), while fathers cited emotional abuse as the most frequent negative experience. These ACE scores were significantly higher than those reported from community samples. Post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed in 75 (29.3%) of the 256 patients. A total of 44.6% of children of mothers and 53.8% of children of fathers reporting at least one ACE showed a CATS score above the cut-off. : Parents of child psychiatric patients show higher scores of adverse childhood experiences than a community sample with the same population background. Further empirical studies in parents of child psychiatric patients and a larger sample seem mandatory in the face of these results.
在一些研究中，童年不良经历（ACEs）已被认为与日后生活中的各种心理社会异常有关。然而，亲生父母报告的ACEs与社区样本中的ACE得分是否存在差异仍不清楚。本研究的目的是调查患者样本的父母在报告童年经历方面与社区样本的差异程度。此外，还应更详细地研究父母的负面创伤经历与子女对这些经历的报告之间的联系。总共对256名4至18岁（平均[M]=13.26岁，标准差[SD]=2.73）的儿童精神科患者进行了回顾性检查，以评估创伤后应激症状（使用儿童创伤症状检查表问卷）。此外，391名照顾者（其中316名是亲生父母）完成了关于童年不良经历的ACE问卷。对父母的ACEs频率、患者的创伤经历及其累积发生率进行了描述性评估。共有139名（73%）母亲报告童年至少有一次负面经历。相比之下，65名父亲（52%）报告童年至少有一次负面经历。母亲最常提到与父母一方分离（38.7%），而父亲则将情感虐待列为最常见的负面经历。这些ACE得分显著高于社区样本报告的得分。256名患者中有75名（29.3%）被诊断为创伤后应激障碍。报告至少一次ACE的母亲的子女中，共有44.6%的儿童和父亲的子女中53.8%的儿童的儿童创伤症状检查表得分高于临界值。儿童精神科患者的父母比具有相同人口背景的社区样本显示出更高的童年不良经历得分。面对这些结果，对儿童精神科患者的父母进行进一步的实证研究以及更大规模的样本研究似乎是必要的。
