TY - JOUR
PY - 2021//
TI - Childhood neglect and trajectories of affective symptoms throughout adulthood: a British birth cohort study
JO - Journal of affective disorders
A1 - Rozanski, Sophie
A1 - Schmidt, Alexandra
A1 - John, Amber
A1 - Gaysina, Darya
SP - ePub
EP - ePub
VL - ePub
IS - ePub
N2 - Background Childhood maltreatment, including neglect, can affect an individual's mental health. However, there is a gap in the literature investigating the long-term, dynamic effects of childhood neglect on adult affective symptoms (AS). Method Data were used from the National Child Development Study (a British 1958 birth cohort). Childhood neglect was prospectively measured at ages 7 and 11. Five distinct trajectories of AS have been derived previously, using data from the Malaise Inventory Scale (at ages 23, 33, 42 and 50): 'no symptoms', 'persistent mild/moderate symptoms', 'low and increasing symptoms', 'high and increasing symptoms' and 'high and decreasing symptoms' (John et al., 2019). Multinomial logistic regressions were used to explore whether childhood neglect was associated with AS trajectory membership, while adjusting for a number of covariates. Results Results revealed that childhood neglect was significantly associated with 'high and decreasing', 'high and increasing' and 'persistent mild/moderate' AS trajectories from young adulthood through midlife. There was no association with the 'low and increasing' AS trajectory. When testing for at age specific effects, neglect experienced at age 7 only, or at age 11 only, was predictive of 'high and decreasing symptoms' trajectory, whereas neglect experienced at both ages was predictive of 'persistent mild/moderate symptoms' trajectory. Conclusions Childhood neglect has negative long-lasting effects on trajectories of adult mental health. This finding has important implications for early interventions for individuals who have experienced childhood neglect. Language: en
LA - en
SN - 0165-0327
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.021
ID - ref1
ER -