Normative Minor Childhood Stress and Risk of Later Adult Psychopathology in Saudi Arabia

Michael Hyland

doi:10.9734/indj/2014/7997

Abstract

Chronic minor childhood stress in the form of corporal punishment predicts adult psychopathology in the United States but has not been demonstrated in a country where corporal punishment is normative. We teste d whether adult psychopathology was predicted by recalled frequency of childhood corporal punishment and recalled controllability of punishment in Saudi Arabia. Two hundred and fifty nine Saudi men with substance addictions (who for cultural reasons were a t risk for depression) completed a survey measuring: demographic variables, frequency of beating and controllability of punishment as a child, depression and borderline personality disorder symptoms (BPD). Beating frequency and punishment control were unco rrelated and unrelated to patients �

Highlights

Chronic minor childhood stress in the form of corporal punishment predicts adult psychopathology in the United States but has not been demonstrated in a country where corporal punishment is normative
Two hundred and fifty nine Saudi men with substance addictions completed a survey measuring: demographic variables, frequency of beating and controllability of punishment as a child, depression and borderline personality disorder symptoms (BPD)
There is a large body of data showing that child abuse and major life stressors are associated with psychiatric disease [6], to date only one study shows a statistical association between corporal punishment in childhood and adult psychopathology, and which included major depression [6]

Summary

Introduction

Chronic minor childhood stress in the form of corporal punishment predicts adult psychopathology in the United States but has not been demonstrated in a country where corporal punishment is normative. These results provide evidence in a culture where corporal punishment is normative that corporal punishment, even when infrequent, International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal, 2(2): 94-103, 2014 predisposes to adult psychopathology and that uncontrollability increases the pathogenic effect of frequent corporal punishment These results support the hypothesis that frequent minor stressors in childhood act as kindling factor for later depression. There is a large body of data showing that child abuse and major life stressors are associated with psychiatric disease [6], to date only one study shows a statistical association between corporal punishment in childhood and adult psychopathology, and which included major depression [6] This last study was carried out using general population data in the United States, a country where federal law permits corporal punishment in the home and in school, but where there is a significant opposition to corporal punishment, including opposition from the American Academy of Pediatrics [2]. Other studies lead to the opposite conclusion: The child’s aggression at an early age predicted neither later physical nor verbal punishment [10], suggesting that naturally aggressive children do not elicit more corporal punishment

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Conclusion