Minimization of Childhood Maltreatment Is Common and Consequential

Childhood maltreatment has diverse, lifelong impact on morbidity and mortality. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) is one of the most commonly used scales to assess and quantify these experiences and their impact. Curiously, despite very widespread use of the CTQ, scores on its Minimization-Denial (MD) subscale—originally designed to assess a positive response bias—are rarely reported. Hence, little is known about this measure. If response biases are either common or consequential, current practices of ignoring the MD scale deserve revision. 

Therewith, we designed a study to investigate 3 aspects of minimization, as defined by the CTQ’s MD scale: 1) its prevalence; 2) its latent structure; and finally 3) whether minimization moderates the CTQ’s discriminative validity in terms of distinguishing between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. Archival, item-level CTQ data from 24 multinational samples were combined for a total of 19,652 participants. Analyses indicated: 1) minimization is common; 2) minimization functions as a continuous construct; and 3) high MD scores attenuate the ability of the CTQ to distinguish between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. 

Overall, results suggest that a minimizing response bias—as detected by the MD subscale—has a small but significant moderating effect on the CTQ’s discriminative validity. Results also may suggest that some prior analyses of maltreatment rates or the effects of early maltreatment that have used the CTQ may have underestimated its incidence and impact. 

We caution researchers and clinicians about the widespread practice of using the CTQ without the MD or collecting MD data but failing to assess and control for its effects on outcomes or dependent variables.

Below:  Percentages of Clinical and Community Samples in CTQ Severity Quartiles

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/5cJT4g

By:  

Kai MacDonald, Michael L. Thomas, Beacher Schneider, Katherine Pappas, Murray B Stein

Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, United States of America

Andres F. Sciolla

Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America

Gijs Bleijenberg, Marianne Heins, Hans Knoop

Expert Center Chronic Fatigue, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Martin Bohus

Universität Heidelberg, Central Institute of Mental Health, Heidelberg, Germany

Bradley Bekh

Atlanta VA Medical Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Bradley Bekh

Department of Psychiatry, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Linda Carpenter

Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Alan Carr

University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Udo Dannlowski

Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

Martin Dorahy

Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Claudia Fahlke

Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Ricky Finzi-Dottan, Tobi Karu

Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

Arne Gerdner

School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

Heide Glaesmer

Department of Medical Psychology and Medical, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Hans Jörgen Grabe

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Helios Hospital Stralsund, Stralsund, Germany

Hans Jörgen Grabe

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Dianna T Kenny

University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Daeho Kim

Department of Psychiatry, Hanyang University Medical School, Seoul, South Korea

Jill Lobbestael

Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

Christine Lochner

University of Stellenbosch, MRC Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Grethe Lauritzen, Edle Ravndal

Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug research (SIRUS), and Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research (SERAF), University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Shelley Riggs

University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, United States of America

Vedat Sar

Koç University Medical School, Istanbul, Turkey

Ingo Schäfer

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

Nicole Schlosser

Research Department, Evangelical Hospital Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

Melanie L Schwandt

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Claudia Subic-Wrana

Department für Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of Mainz University, Mainz, Germany

Mark Vogel

Division of Substance Use Disorders, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Katja Wingenfeld

Department of Psychiatry, Charité University Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany

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Parental Criminal Justice Involvement and Children's Involvement with Child Protective Services: Do Adult Drug Treatment Courts Prevent Child Maltreatment?

BACKGROUND:

In light of evidence showing reduced criminal recidivism and cost savings, adult drug treatment courts have grown in popularity. However, the potential spillover benefits to family members are understudied.

OBJECTIVES:

To examine: (1) the overlap between parents who were convicted of a substance-related offense and their children's involvement with child protective services (CPS); and (2) whether parental participation in an adult drug treatment court program reduces children's risk for CPS involvement.

METHODS:

Administrative data from North Carolina courts, birth records, and social services were linked at the child level. First, children of parents convicted of a substance-related offense were matched to (a) children of parents convicted of a nonsubstance-related offense and (b) those not convicted of any offense. Second, we compared children of parents who completed a DTC program with children of parents who were referred but did not enroll, who enrolled for <90 days but did not complete, and who enrolled for 90+ days but did not complete. Multivariate logistic regression was used to model group differences in the odds of being reported to CPS in the 1 to 3 years following parental criminal conviction or, alternatively, being referred to a DTC program.

RESULTS:

Children of parents convicted of a substance-related offense were at greater risk of CPS involvement than children whose parents were not convicted of any charge, but DTC participation did not mitigate this risk. Conclusion/Importance: The role of specialty courts as a strategy for reducing children's risk of maltreatment should be further explored.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/Y0rs05

By:  Gifford EJ1, Eldred LM2, Sloan FA2, Evans KE1.

• 1 Center for Child and Family Policy , Duke University , Durham , North Carolina , USA.
• 2 Department of Economics , Duke University , Durham , North Carolina , USA.
• Subst Use Misuse. 2016 Jan 20:1-14 

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 More about photo:  http://goo.gl/HCGRGU

STD and Abortion Prevalence in Adolescent Mothers with Histories of Childhood Protection Involvement

CONTEXT

Early sexual debut and unprotected sexual activity place adolescents at risk of adverse sexual health outcomes. Adolescents involved with child protective services (CPS) may be a particularly vulnerable population.

METHODS

California birth records for 86,946 adolescents who became first-time mothers in 2008–2010 were probabilistically linked to statewide CPS records from 1998 and later. The prevalence of STDs at birth and of abortion history were explored by preconception CPS involvement. Generalized linear models, adjusted for health, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, were used to assess correlates of current STDs and history of abortion.

RESULTS

At the time they gave birth, 1% of adolescents had a documented STD, and 5% reported a previous abortion. After adjustment for other characteristics, CPS involvement was associated with a significantly elevated prevalence both of STDs (relative risk, 1.2) and of previous abortion (1.4). Other characteristics also were associated with both outcomes, but not always in the same direction. For example, delaying prenatal care until after the first trimester or getting none at all was associated with an increased prevalence of STDs (1.3), but a reduced prevalence of abortion (0.8–0.9); having public insurance coverage for the birth was associated with a reduced STD prevalence (0.9) and an elevated abortion history prevalence (1.2).

CONCLUSIONS

To assess whether adolescents with a history of CPS involvement need targeted sexual health interventions, further research is needed on the mechanisms that underlie associations between CPS involvement and adverse sexual health outcomes.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/Vb5Ut7

By:   

Julie A. Cederbaum, 

Emily Putnam-Hornstein, 

Kathrine Sullivan, 

Hailey Winetrobe and

Melissa Bird

1. University of Southern California School of Social Work, Los Angeles

Email: Julie A. Cederbaum (jcederba@usc.edu)

 

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