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Child maltreatment and psychological symptoms in a Portuguese adult community sample: the harmful effects of emotional abuse

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Abstract

Child maltreatment (CM) is associated with poor long-term health outcomes. However, knowledge about CM prevalence and related consequences is scarce among adults in South European countries. We examined the self-reported prevalence of five different forms of CM in a community sample of 1,200 Portuguese adults; we compared the results with similar samples from three other countries, using the same instrument. We also explored the relationship between CM and psychological symptoms. Cross-sectional data using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form and the Brief Symptom Inventory were analyzed. Moderate or severe CM exposure was self-reported by 14.7 % of the sample, and 67 % was exposed to more than one form of CM. Emotional neglect was the most endorsed experience, with women reporting greater emotional abuse and men reporting larger physical abuse. Physical and sexual abuse was less self-reported by Portuguese than by American or German subjects. CM exposure predicted 12.8 % of the psychological distress. Emotional abuse was the strongest predictor for psychological symptoms, namely for paranoid ideation, depression, and interpersonal sensitivity. Emotional abuse overlapped with the exposure to all other CM forms, and interacted with physical abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect to predict psychological distress. Low exposure to emotional abuse was directly associated with the effects of physical abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect to predict adult psychological distress. Verbal abuse experiences were frequently reported and had the highest correlations with adult psychological distress. Our results underline the potential hurtful effects of child emotional abuse among Portuguese adults in the community. They also highlight the need to improve prevention and intervention actions to reduce exposure and consequences of CM, particularly emotional abuse.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal through the Research Grant of Aida Dias, with reference SFRH/BD/68995/2010 (POSI 2010 and FSE). Data were collected within the project “Children of Colonial War: post memory and representations”, financed by the same organization, and with reference PTDC/ELT/65592/2006 FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007261. We would like to thank the Faculty of Social Sciences of Utrecht University for its hosting conditions; David Bernstein and Maria Cristina Canavarro by the permission to use the instruments; Margarida Calafate Ribeiro by the consent to use the data collected within the Project “Children of Colonial War: post memory and representations”.

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There are no conflicts of interest in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Aida Dias, David J. Hessen & Rolf J. Kleber

  2. Centro de Trauma/CES, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Aida Dias & Luísa Sales

  3. ArQ Research Foundation, Diemen, The Netherlands

    Rolf J. Kleber

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  1. Aida Dias
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Correspondence to Aida Dias.

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Dias, A., Sales, L., Hessen, D.J. et al. Child maltreatment and psychological symptoms in a Portuguese adult community sample: the harmful effects of emotional abuse. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 24, 767–778 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-014-0621-0

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