Abstract
Purpose
Research has shown that sexual trauma represents a specific threat for psychosis, particularly among females. Sexual trauma among females, however, has also been shown to enhance the risk for further revictimisation. Females are likely to exhibit distinct lifetime trauma profiles, i.e. female sexual trauma victims are often more likely to experience particular forms of re-victimisation, such as intimate partner and domestic violence.
Methods
This study used data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (2007) to profile lifetime histories of sexual trauma and domestic violence among female participants (N = 4,111).
Results
The latent class analysis revealed four lifetime victimisation classes: (i) a multiple victimisation class; (ii) an intimate partner victimisation class; (iii) a sexual victimisation class; and (iv) a victimisation-free class. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that there was a strong association between class membership and a diagnosis of psychosis and that the victimisation classes were significantly associated with all psychotic-like experiences. Compared to the victimisation-free class, the multiple victimisation class displayed an increased likelihood of experiencing all psychotic experiences except mania. The intimate partner victimisation class was also associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing all psychotic experiences; however, the odds ratios for this class were lower than those recorded for the multiple victimisation class.
Conclusions
These findings reflect female-specific variation in both victimisation history and psychosis-related vulnerability. Acknowledging such sex-specific variation may advance our understanding of the complex associations that continue to emerge between trauma and psychosis for both males and females.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Read J, van Os J, Morrison A, Ross C (2005) Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: a literature review with theoretical and clinical implications. Acta Psychiatr Scand 112:330–350
Read J, Bentall R, Fosse R (2009) Time to abandon the bio–bio–bio model of psychosis: exploring the epigenetic and psychological mechanisms by which adverse life events lead to psychotic symptoms. Epidemiol Psychiatr Soc 18:299–317
Bebbington PE (2009) Childhood sexual abuse and psychosis: aetiology and mechanism. Epidemiol Psichiatr Soc 18:284–293
Read J, Bentall R (2012) Negative childhood experiences and mental health: theoretical, clinical and primary prevention implications. Br J Psychiatry 200:89–91
Janssen I, Krabbendam L, Bak M, Hanssen M, Vollebergh W, de Graaf R, van Os J (2004) Childhood abuse as a risk factor for psychotic experiences. Acta Psychiatr Scand 109:38–45
Cutajar MC, Mullen PE, Ogloff JR, Thomas SD, Wells DL, Spataro J (2010) Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in a cohort of sexually abused children. Arch Gen Psychiatr 67:1114–1119
Bebbington PE, Jonas S, Kuipers E, King M, Cooper C, Brugha T, Meltzer H, McManus S, Jenkins R (2011) Sexual abuse and psychosis: data from an English National survey. Br J Psychiatry 199:29–37
Shevlin M, Adamson G, Dorahy M (2007) Childhood traumas and hallucinations: an analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey. J Psychiatr Res 41:222–228
Lysaker PH, Davis LW, Gatton MJ, Herman SM (2005) Associations of anxiety related symptoms with reported history of childhood sexual abuse in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. J Clin Psychiatr 66:1279–1284
Read J, Perry BD, Moskowitz A, Connolly J (2001) The contribution of early traumatic events to schizophrenia in some patients: a traumagenic neurodevelopmental model. Psychiatry 64:319–345
Kilcommons AM, Morrison AP (2005) Relationships between trauma and psychosis: an exploration of cognitive and dissociative factors. Acta Psychiatr Scand 112:351–359
Berry K, Barrowclough C, Wearden A (2008) Attachment theory: a framework for understanding symptoms and interpersonal relationships in psychosis. Behav Res Ther 46:1275–1282
Moskowitz A, Schafer I, Dorahy M (2008) Psychosis, trauma and dissociation: emerging perspectives on severe psychopathology. Wiley Press, New York
Fisher H, Morgan C, Dazzan P, Craig T, Morgan K, Hutchinson G, Jones PB, Doody GA, Pariente C, Mc Guffin P, Murray RM, Leff J, Fearon P (2009) Gender differences in the association between childhood abuse and psychosis. Br J Psychiatry 194:319–325
Bentall RP, Fernyhough C (2008) Social predictors of psychotic experiences: specificity and psychological mechanisms. Schizophr Bull 34:1012–1020
Casey EA, Nurius PS (2005) Trauma exposure and sexual revictimization risk: comparisons across single, multiple incident, and multiple perpetrator victimizations. Violence Against Women 11:505–530
Messman-Moore TL, Long PJ (1996) Child sexual abuse and its relationship to revictimization in adult women: a review. Clin Psychol Rev 16:397–420
Bebbington PE, Jonas S, Brugha T, Meltzer H, Jenkins R, Cooper C, King M, McManus S (2011) Child sexual abuse reported by an English national sample: characteristics and demography. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46:255–262
Elklit A, Shevlin M (2011) Female sexual victimization predicts psychosis: a case–control study based on the Danish Registry System. Schizophr Bull 37:1305–1310
Murphy J, Shevlin M, Houston J, Adamson G (2012) A population based analysis of subclinical psychosis and help-seeking behaviour. Schizophr Bull 38:360–367
Allardyce J, Suppes T, van Os J (2007) Dimensions and the psychosis phenotype. Int J Method Psychol 16:34–40
World Health Organization (1994) SCAN: schedules for clinical assessment in neuropsychiatry. Geneva
Mc Manus S, Meltzer H, Brugha T, Bebbington P, Jenkins R (2009) Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, 2007: results of a household survey. UK Data Archive Study Number 6379
Bebbington P, Nayani T (1995) The psychosis screening questionnaire. Int J Method Psychol 5:11–19
Saunders JB, Aasland OG, Babor TF, dela Fuente JR, Grant M (1993) Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption-II. Addiction 88:791–804
Yuan K, Bentler P (2000) Three likelihood-based methods for mean and covariance structure analysis with nonnormal missing data. Sociol Methodol 30:167–202
Akaike H (1987) Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika 52:317–332
Schwarz GE (1978) Estimating the dimension of a model. Ann Stat 6:461–464
Sclove SL (1987) Application of model-selection criteria to some problems in multivariate analysis. Psychometrika 52:333–343
Muthén LK, Muthén BO (2011) Mplus user guide, 6th edn. Los Angeles, CA
Cawson P, Wattam C, Brooker S, Kelly G (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. NSPCC Research Findings, London
May-Chahal C, Cawson P (2005) Measuring child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse Negl 29:969–984
Shevlin M, Murphy J, Read J, Mallett J, Adamson G, Houston J (2011) Childhood adversity and hallucinations: a community-based study using the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46:1203–1210
Jonas S, Bebbington P, McManus S, Meltzer H, Jenkins R, Kuipers E, Cooper C, King M, Brugha T (2011) Sexual abuse and psychiatric disorder in England: results from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Psychol Med 41:709–719
Myhill A, Allen J (2002) Rape and sexual assault of women: the extent and nature of the problem. Findings from the British Crime Survey. Home Office Research Study 237. London
Garcia-Moreno C, Jansen H, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts C (2006) Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. Lancet 338:1260–1269
Hindin MJ, Kishor S, Ansara DL (2008) Intimate partner violence among couples in 10 DHS countries: Predictors and health outcomes. DHS Analytical Studies No. 18. Calverton, MD: Macro International Inc.
Mc Pherson MD, Delva J, Cranford JA (2007) A longitudinal investigation of intimate partner violence among mothers with mental illness. Psychiatr Serv 58:675–680
Wallace H, Seymour A (1999) National Victim Assistance Academy website (Chap. 8: Domestic Violence). Available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/assist/nvaa99chap8.htm
Tjaden P, Thoennes N (2000) Prevalence and consequences of male-to-female and female-to-male intimate partner violence as measured by the National Violence against Women Survey. Violence Against Women 6:142–161
Hampton R, Gelles R (1994) Violence toward black women in a nationally representative sample of black families. J Comp Fam Stud 25:105–119
Coker AL, Davis KE, Arias I, Desai S, Sanderson M, Brandt HM, Smith PH (2002) Physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women. Am J Prev Med 23:260–268
Davis KE, Coker AL, Sanderson M (2002) Physical and mental health effects of being stalked for men and women. Violence Vict 17:429–443
Roodman AA, Clum GA (2001) Revictimization rates and method variance: a meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev 21:183–204
Briere JN, Elliott DM (2003) Prevalence and psychological sequelae of self-reported childhood physical and sexual abuse in a general population sample of men and women. Child Abuse Negl 27:1205–1222
Browne A, Finklehor D (1986) Impact of child sexual abuse: a review of the research. Psychol Bull 99:66–77
Polusny MA, Follette VM (1995) Long-term correlates of child sexual abuse: theory and review of empirical literature. Appl Prev Psychol 4:143–166
Desai S, Arias I, Thompson MP, Basile KC (2002) Childhood victimization and subsequent adult revictimization assessed in a nationally representative sample of women and men. Violence Vict 17:639–653
Messman-Moore TL, Brown AL (2004) Child maltreatment and perceived family environment as risk factors for adult rape: is child sexual abuse the most salient experience? Child Abuse Negl 28:1019–1034
Cloitre M, Tardiff K, Marzuk PM, Leon AC, Portera L (1996) Childhood abuse and subsequent sexual assault among female inpatients. J Trauma Stress 9:473–482
Coid J, Petruckevitch A, Feder G, Chung W, Richardson J, Mooney S (2001) Relation between child sexual and physical abuse and the risk of revictimization in women: a cross-sectional survey. Lancet 358:450–454
Schaaf KK, Mc Canne TR (1998) Relationship of childhood sexual, physical and combined sexual and physical abuse to adult victimization and posttraumatic stress disorder. Child Abuse Negl 22:1119–1133
Wiles NJ, Zammit S, Bebbington P, Singleton N, Meltzer H, Lewis G (2006) Self-reported psychotic symptoms in the general population: results from the longitudinal study of the British National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Br J Psychiatry 188:519–526
Johns LC, Cannon M, Singleton N, Murray RM, Farrell M, Brugha T, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Meltzer H (2004) Prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms in the British population. Br J Psychiatry 185:298–305
Johns LC, Nazroo JY, Bebbington P, Kuipers E (1998) Occurrence of hallucinations in a community sample. Schizophr Res 29:23
van Os J, Hanssen M, Bijl RV, Ravelli A (2000) Strauss (1969) revisited: a psychosis continuum in the general population? Schizophr Res 45:11–20
Poulton R, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Cannon M, Murray R, Harrington H (2000) Children’s self-reported psychotic symptoms and adult schizophreniform disorder: a 15-year longitudinal study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 57:1053–1058
Beavan V, Read J, Cartwright C (2011) The prevalence of voice-hearing in the general population: a literature review. J Ment Health 20:281–292
Pratchett L, Yehuda R (2011) Foundations of posttraumatic stress disorder: does early life trauma lead to adult posttraumatic stress disorder. Dev Psychopathol 23:477–491
Spauwen J, Krabbendam L (2006) Impact of psychological trauma on the development of psychotic symptoms: relationship with psychosis. Br J Psychiatry 188:527–533
Bentall RP, Wickham S, Shevlin M, Varese F (2012) Do specific early-life adversities lead to specific symptoms of psychosis? A study from the 2007 the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Schizophr Bull. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbs049
Shevlin M, Dorahy M, Adamson G (2007) Childhood traumas and hallucinations: an analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey. J Psychiatr Res 41:222–228
Freeman D, Garety PA, Fowler D, Kuipers E, Bebbington PE, Dunn G (2004) Why do people with delusions fail to choose more realistic explanations for their experiences? An empirical investigation. J Consult Clin Psychol 72:671–680
Varese F, Barkus E, Bentall RP (2012) Dissociation mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and hallucination-proneness. Psychol Med 42:1025–1036
Hardy A, Fowler D, Freeman D, Smith B, Steel C, Evans J, Garety PA, Kuipers E, Bebbington PE, Dunn G (2005) Trauma and hallucinatory experiences in psychosis. J Nerv Ment Dis 193:501–507
Bentall RP, Rowse G, Shryane N, Kinderman P, Howard R, Blackwood N, Moore R, Corcoran R (2009) The cognitive and affective structure of paranoid delusions: a transdiagnostic investigation of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 66:236–247
Freeman D, Garety PA, Kuipers E, Fowler D, Bebbington PE (2002) A cognitive model of persecutory delusions. Br J Clinical Psychol 41:331–347
Read J, Hammersley P, Rudegeair T (2007) Why, when and how to ask about child abuse. Adv Psychiatr Treat 13:101–110
Read J, McGregor K, Coggan C, Thomas D (2006) Mental health services and sexual abuse: the need for staff training. J Trauma Diss 7:33–50
Agar K, Read J, Bush J (2002) Identification of abuse histories in a community mental health centre. J Ment Health 11:533–543
Cavanagh M, Read J, New B (2004) Childhood abuse inquiry and response: a New Zealand training programme. New Zeal J Psychol 33:137–144
Fowler D, Garety PA, Kuipers E (1998) Understanding the inexplicable: an individually formulated cognitive approach to delusional beliefs. In: Proceedings of cognitive psychotherapy of psychotic and personality disorders. Wiley, Chichester
Fowler D, Garety PA, Kuipers L (1995) Cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis: theory and practice. Wiley, Chichester
Fisher H, Craig T, Fearon P, Dazzan P, Lappin J, Hutchinson G, Doody G, Jones P, McGuffin P, Murray R, Leff J, Morgan C (2011) Reliability and comparability of psychosis patients’ retrospective reports of childhood abuse. Schizophr Bull 37:546–553
Goldstone E, Farhall J, Ong B (2011) Modelling the emergence of hallucinations: early acquired vulnerabilities, proximal life stressors and maladaptive psychological processes. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. doi:10.1007/s00127-011-0446-9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shevlin, M., O’Neill, T., Houston, J.E. et al. Patterns of lifetime female victimisation and psychotic experiences: a study based on the UK Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 48, 15–24 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0573-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0573-y