Traumata, Entwicklungsperioden und motivationale Fähigkeiten bei Schweizer Verdingkindern im Alter

A Systematic Review of the Outcome of Child Abuse in Long-Term Care

The aim of the systematic review described in this article was to determine the outcome of child maltreatment in long-term childcare and the scope of the evidence base in this area. Searches of 10 databases were conducted. Forty-nine documents describing 21 primary studies and 25 secondary studies were selected for review. Searches, study selection, data extraction, and study quality assessments were independently conducted by two researchers, with a high degree of interrater reliability. Participants in the 21 primary studies included 3,856 abuse survivors and 1,577 nonabused controls. In six primary studies, survivors were under 18 years, and participants in the remaining primary studies were adults with a mean age of 54 years. Reviewed studies were conducted in the United Kingdom, the United States, Finland, Romania, Tanzania, Canada, Ireland, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Participants were abused in religious and nonreligious residential care centers and foster care. There were significant associations between the experience of child abuse in long-term care and adjustment across the life span in the domains of mental health, physical health, and psychosocial adjustment. Evidence-based trauma-focused treatment should be offered to child abuse survivors. Future research in this area should prioritize longitudinal studies.

Motivational capacities after prolonged interpersonal childhood trauma in institutional settings in a sample of Austrian adult survivors

A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the aversive impact of prolonged interpersonal childhood trauma, but data on possible associations with motivational concepts (self-efficacy, self-esteem and locus of control) in adult survivors is scarce. The purpose of this study is to investigate specific coherences between childhood abuse and adult life events with (a) motivational concepts (MC), (b) the emotion regulation strategy "goal-directed behavior" and (c) the possible mediation of emotion regulation (ER) on motivational concepts. We use data from a cross-sectional survey in Vienna (VIA-S) obtained from 220 adult survivors of prolonged interpersonal childhood trauma. In addition, we assess the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5, the subscale "Goals" (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), the Short Scale for Measuring General Self-Efficacy Beliefs, the Multidimensional Self-Esteem Scale, and an extended version of the Internal-External Control Beliefs-4 Scale. An estimated multi-group path-model, divided by gender, was also conducted with the measures indicated above. Our results show that prolonged interpersonal childhood trauma directly relates to reduced self-efficacy, self-esteem, and difficulties in ER. Concurrently, ER serves as a mediator for all MC. No gender differences were observed. Associations with adult life events were only found regarding self-efficacy. This study supports the notion that prolonged interpersonal childhood trauma in institutional settings impacts ER, which further mediates MC. Despite several study limitations (e.g. lack of a control group) the presented findings underline the importance of broadening the perception of trauma sequelae as well as integrating inhibited ER strategies and MC.

Childhood trauma and complex posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in older adults: A study of direct effects and social-interpersonal factors as potential mediators

Childhood traumatic events may lead to long-lasting psychological effects and contribute to the development of complex posttraumatic sequelae. These might be captured by the diagnostic concept of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) as an alternative to classic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). CPTSD comprises a further set of symptoms in addition to those of PTSD, namely, changes in affect, self, and interpersonal relationships. Previous empirical research on CPTSD has focused on middle-aged adults but not on older adults. Moreover, predictor models of CPTSD are still rare. The current study investigated the association between traumatic events in childhood and complex posttraumatic stress symptoms in older adults. The mediation of this association by 2 social-interpersonal factors (social acknowledgment as a survivor and dysfunctional disclosure) was investigated. These 2 factors focus on the perception of acknowledgment by others and either the inability to disclose traumatic experiences or the ability to do so only with negative emotional reactions. A total of 116 older individuals (age range = 59-98 years) who had experienced childhood traumatic events completed standardized self-report questionnaires indexing childhood trauma, complex trauma sequelae, social acknowledgment, and dysfunctional disclosure of trauma. The results showed that traumatic events during childhood were associated with later posttraumatic stress symptoms but with classic rather than complex symptoms. Social acknowledgment and dysfunctional disclosure partially mediated this relationship. These findings suggest that childhood traumatic stress impacts individuals across the life span and may be associated with particular adverse psychopathological consequences.