Peer-reviewed article
The association between child maltreatment and mental disorders in the Australian Child Maltreatment Study
James G. Scott, Eva Malacova, Ben Mathews, Divna M. Haslam, Rosana Pacella et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the link between child maltreatment and mental health problems in Australian adults. Researchers surveyed over 8,500 Australians and found that people who experienced maltreatment as children were much more likely to have mental disorders like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Those who experienced multiple types of maltreatment had the highest rates of mental illness, with about 55% meeting diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder compared to 22% of non-maltreated participants.
Key points
- 38% of surveyed Australians met diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder
- Maltreated individuals had about 3 times higher odds of any mental disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder
- Child maltreatment survivors had almost 5 times the odds of post-traumatic stress disorder
- 54.8% of those with multi-type maltreatment had a mental disorder, compared to 36.2% with single-type maltreatment and 21.6% with no maltreatment
- Associations were strongest for sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and multi-type maltreatment, and did not differ by gender
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causation, only association. It relies on retrospective self-reported childhood maltreatment, which may be subject to recall bias or underreporting, and includes only Australian residents aged 16 and older, limiting generalisability to other populations and younger children.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations between experiences of child maltreatment and mental disorders in the Australian population. DESIGN: Population-representative survey conducted by computer-assisted telephone interviewing. SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Australian residents aged 16 years and older. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mental disorder diagnoses of lifetime major depressive disorder, current alcohol use disorder (mild, moderate and severe), current generalised anxiety disorder and current post-traumatic stress disorder. RESULTS: More than one in three Australians (3606/8503 surveyed participants; 38.0%; 95% CI, 36.7-39.3%) met the diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder. The prevalence of mental disorders in non-maltreated participants was 21.6% (95% CI, 19.9-23.3%; n = 851). This increased to 36.2% (95% CI, 33.5-38.9%; n = 764) for those who experienced a single type of maltreatment and 54.8% (95% CI, 52.6-56.9%; n = 1991) for participants who experienced multi-type maltreatment. Compared with non-maltreated Australians, maltreated participants had about three times the odds of any mental disorder (odds ratio [OR], 2.82; 95% CI, 2.47-3.22), generalised anxiety disorder (OR, 3.14; 95% CI, 2.48-3.97), major depressive disorder (OR, 3.19; 95% CI, 2.68-3.80) and severe alcohol use disorder (OR, 2.62; 95% CI, 1.83-3.76), and almost five times the odds of post-traumatic stress disorder (OR, 4.60; 95% CI, 3.00-7.07). Associations between experiences of child maltreatment and mental disorders were strongest for sexual abuse, emotional abuse and multi-type maltreatment. The strength of the associations did not differ by gender. Adjustment for childhood and current financial hardship and for current socio-economic status did not significantly attenuate the associations. CONCLUSIONS: Mental disorders are significantly more likely to occur in individuals who experience child maltreatment, particularly multi-type maltreatment. Prevention of child maltreatment provides an opportunity to substantially reduce the prevalence of mental illness and improve the health of the Australian population.