TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - The relationship between childhood trauma and medically self-sabotaging behaviors among psychiatric inpatients
JO  - International journal of psychiatry in medicine
A1  - Sansone, Randy A.
A1  - Wiederman, Michael W.
A1  - McLean, Jamie S.
SP  - 469
EP  - 479
VL  - 38
IS  - 4
N2  - OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to explore the relationship between five forms of childhood trauma and medically self-sabotaging behaviors (i.e., the intentional induction, exaggeration, and/or exacerbation of medical symptoms). METHOD: Using a cross-sectional sample of convenience, 120 psychiatric inpatients were surveyed about childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuses, the witnessing of violence, and physical neglect, as well as 19 medically self-sabotaging behaviors (i.e., intentional behaviors that represent attempts to sabotage medical care). RESULTS: As expected, in this sample there were high prevalence rates of trauma (62.5% emotional abuse, 58.3% witnessing of violence, 46.7% physical abuse, 37.5% sexual abuse, 28.3% physical neglect). Simple correlations demonstrated statistically significant relationships between sexual abuse and physical neglect and medically self-sabotaging behaviors. Using multiple regression analysis, only physical neglect remained a unique predictor of medically self-sabotaging behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that among psychiatric inpatients there appears to be a relationship between physical neglect in childhood and the generation of medically self-sabotaging behaviors in adulthood. Perhaps physical neglect in childhood contributes to the generation of somatic behaviors in adulthood for the purpose of eliciting caring responses from others.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0091-2174
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -