Trauma Exposure, Suicidality, and Symptom Severity Among Young Adults Seeking Counseling Who Report Childhood Emotional Abuse

Abstract

There is limited research regarding childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and its influence on mental health across development, as most studies of childhood maltreatment to date have focused on childhood sexual and physical abuse. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 2,604 young adults seeking counseling services at a large post-secondary institution in the southwestern United States. Participants were screened for trauma exposure, mental health issues, and suicidality. Findings indicated that CEA was significantly associated with higher rates of exposure to other traumatic events, more severe depression, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, academic distress, eating concerns, family distress, hostility, and substance use. CEA exposure was also significantly associated with more frequent suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, and non-suicidal self-injury prior to seeking counseling services. As CEA was associated with elevated symptom presentation and more severe risk for suicide, recommendations for counseling practice and future research are discussed.