Citation

Dunn EC, Wang Y, Tse J, McLaughlin KA, Fitzmaurice G, Gilman SE, Susser ES. Br. J. Psychiatry 2017; 211(6): 365-372.

Affiliation

Erin C. Dunn, ScD, MPH, Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston and Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Yan Wang, PhD, MPH, Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Jenny Tse, BA, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; Katie A. McLaughlin, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; Garrett Fitzmaurice, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Laboratory for Psychiatric Biostatistics, Belmont and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; Stephen E. Gilman, ScD, Department of Epidemiology and Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Health Behavior Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, Maryland; Ezra S. Susser, MD, DrPH, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Royal College of Psychiatry)

DOI

10.1192/bjp.bp.117.208397

PMID

29097401

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough childhood adversity is a strong determinant of psychopathology, it remains unclear whether there are 'sensitive periods' when a first episode of adversity is most harmful.AimsTo examine whether variation in the developmental timing of a first episode of interpersonal violence (up to age 18) associates with risk for psychopathology.

METHODUsing cross-sectional data, we examined the association between age at first exposure to four types of interpersonal violence (physical abuse by parents, physical abuse by others, rape, and sexual assault/molestation) and onset of four classes of DSM-IV disorders (distress, fear, behaviour, substance use) (n = 9984). Age at exposure was defined as: early childhood (ages 0-5), middle childhood (ages 6-10) and adolescence (ages 11-18).

RESULTSExposure to interpersonal violence at any age period about doubled the risk of a psychiatric disorder (odds ratios (ORs) = 1.51-2.52). However, few differences in risk were observed based on the timing of first exposure. After conducting 20 tests of association, only three significant differences in risk were observed based on the timing of exposure; these results suggested an elevated risk of behaviour disorder among youth first exposed to any type of interpersonal violence during adolescence (OR = 2.37, 95% CI 1.69-3.34), especially being beaten by another person (OR = 2.44; 95% CI 1.57-3.79), and an elevated risk of substance use disorder among youth beaten by someone during adolescence (OR = 2.77, 95% CI 1.94-3.96).

CONCLUSIONSChildren exposed to interpersonal violence had an elevated risk of psychiatric disorder. However, age at first episode of exposure was largely unassociated with psychopathology risk.

© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017.

Language: en