Childhood Trauma Exposure and Substance use. An Explorative Study Among Outpatients with dual Diagnoses.
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This paper explores associations between all forms of childhood trauma and drug debut age in a sample of 76 young, Norwegian, help-seeking substance users with a dual diagnosis. Childhood trauma (emotional, physical and sexual abuse, emotional and physical neglect), posttraumatic and general psychological symptoms and substance abuse characteristics were assessed with Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and Klientkartleggingsystem (KKS) respectively. Childhood trauma was prevalent among the participants, but none of the childhood trauma subtypes were significantly related to earlier drug debut age. The different subtypes of childhood trauma have different associations with psychological and posttraumatic symptoms. A regression analysis showed that emotional abuse and physical neglect had the only significant contributions to general psychological distress and posttraumatic hyperarousal respectively. Psychological distress and hyperarousal were negatively correlated with drug debut age, but hyperarousal had the only significant contribution. The results indicate an indirect relationship between childhood trauma and drug debut age, where a heightened distress may be viewed as a possible mediator. Research has found associations between childhood sexual abuse and substance abuse, but when we study five subtypes of childhood trauma, we find that emotional abuse and physical neglect emerge as significant contributors to psychological distress. This indicates the need to broaden the field to include all forms of childhood trauma in order to explore its association with psychopathology, including substance abuse. Keywords: childhood trauma, substance abuse, child maltreatment, posttraumatic stress symptoms, general psychological distress
Author: Elisabeth Randall Andreassen
Language: English
Topic: Child Abuse and Trauma
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2737550627