Citation

Goodall K, Sawrikar V. Child Abuse Negl. 2023; 146: e106498.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106498

PMID

37844458

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A history of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) is prevalent among adults with affective disorders; therefore, a comprehensive measure of it is vital. The Rating of Emotional Abuse in Childhood Questionnaire (REACH) was developed to assess history of CEA in relation to parental behaviours of threat, ignoring, humiliation/denigration, scapegoating, antipathy, and overcontrol/conditionality in a single measure. This paper investigated the psychometric properties of REACH in a community sample and proposes values for classifying individuals as high-risk for CEA.

METHOD: A convenience sample of N = 483 adults (Female, 78.3%) was recruited to complete questionnaires that included the REACH alongside measures of mental health, insecure attachment, emotion regulation, and childhood abuse. A subset of participants (n = 198) completed the REACH 7 days later.

RESULTS: Factor analysis indicated a 2-factor model provided a good fit. Factors were named 'threatening' and 'devaluing'. A total scale score of CEA was also recommended. The threatening, devaluing, and total scales demonstrated strong psychometric properties with high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity, while cutoff values for identifying a high-risk CEA group demonstrated good discriminant utility.

CONCLUSIONS: The results support REACH as a valid measure and suggest a history of CEA should be measured in relation to threatening and devaluing CEA as they represent unique dimensions of CEA even though they often co-occur.

Language: en

Keywords

Depression; Anxiety; Mental health; Childhood emotional abuse; Psychometric properties, factor analysis