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Abstract
Abstract Aim Being subjected to childhood maltreatment has devastating long-term adverse effects and is a major risk factor for mental health problems in adult life. There is empirical support that socio-political factors can be risk factors for childhood maltreatment. Here we examine whether socio-political context predicts self-rated childhood maltreatment in a sample of the German population. Methods Data were drawn from surveys of representative samples of the East and West German population, including participants born 1980 or earlier (5836 participants; 3146 women). Childhood maltreatment was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Screener, the German short screening version of the childhood trauma questionnaire. To examine whether socio-political context is a predictor of childhood maltreatment in women and men, we conducted logistic regression analyses. Results We found that in women, socio-political context (West Germany) significantly predicted childhood maltreatment (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 1.7 [1.2–2.5], 1.6 [1.1–2.3], 2.5 [1.6–4.1] and 1.8 [1.3–2.5] for emotional neglect, and emotional, physical and sexual violence, respectively). In men, the socio-political context (West Germany) was a predictor of physical and sexual violence (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 1.8 [1.2–2.7] and 2.5 [1.4–4.5]), respectively. Concerning emotional neglect and violence, socio-political context was not a significant predictor in men. The examination of differential item functioning revealed that our results could not be attributed to differential response behaviour between East and West Germans caused by item bias. Conclusions The results suggest that socio-political context is an important determinant to consider when examining childhood maltreatment. Future research should continue to focus on risk and protective factors at the societal level, such as legal frameworks addressing gender equality and child protection laws, to create further evidence for population-wide prevention strategies ensuring safe, nurturing and thriving environments for children and families.
Highlights
Childhood maltreatment is a widespread phenomenon that can have drastic short and longterm consequences for many aspects of child development (van Harmelen et al, 2010; Brydges and Reddaway, 2020), long-term adverse health effects (e.g. Bentley and Widom, 2009; Hemmingsson et al, 2014), as well as a diminished economic prospect in adult life (Currie and Spatz Widom, 2010)
We harmonised the surveys by selecting the five Childhood Trauma Screener (CTS) items of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) in the 2010 and 2016 surveys. Thereafter we examined their psychometric properties by conducting correlation analyses between the CTS items and the corresponding CTQ dimensions in the East and the were slightly lower (West) German sample in participants with available CTQ (n = 3048; online Supplementary Table S2)
Being from West Germany, not East Germany, increased the odds of experiencing emotional neglect and emotional violence, as well as physical and sexual violence, by 1.7, 1.6, 2.6 and 1.8 times, respectively
Summary
Childhood maltreatment is a widespread phenomenon that can have drastic short and longterm consequences for many aspects of child development (van Harmelen et al, 2010; Brydges and Reddaway, 2020), long-term adverse health effects (e.g. Bentley and Widom, 2009; Hemmingsson et al, 2014), as well as a diminished economic prospect in adult life (Currie and Spatz Widom, 2010). There is substantial variation in prevalence rates of self-reported childhood maltreatment in individual studies (Stoltenborgh et al, 2012, 2013a; Glaesmer, 2016). To unravel this vast variation, the cultural-geographical context was examined as a risk factor; procedural and methodological factors seem to mostly explain the differences in prevalence rates (Stoltenborgh et al, 2013b).
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