Parents of Child Psychiatric Patients Report More Adverse Childhood Experiences Compared with Community Samples

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have already been associated, in some studies, with various diverse psychosocial abnormalities in later life. However, it is still unclear whether ACEs reported by biological parents differ from ACE scores in community samples. Background/Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which parents of a patient sample differ from a community sample in terms of reporting childhood experiences. In addition, the connection between parental negative traumatic experiences and their children’s reporting of these experiences should be examined in more detail. Methods: In total, 256 child psychiatric patients (73.8% female and 26.2% male) aged 4–18 years (mean [M] = 13.26 years, standard deviation [SD] = 2.73) were retrospectively examined for post-traumatic stress symptoms (using the CATS questionnaire). In addition, 391 caregivers, 316 of whom were biological parents, completed the ACE questionnaire on adverse childhood experiences. The frequencies of ACEs of the parents, the traumatic experiences of the patients and their cumulative occurrence were evaluated descriptively. Results: A total of 139 (73%) mothers reported at least one negative experience in childhood. In contrast, 65 fathers (52%) reported at least one negative experience in childhood. Mothers most frequently mentioned separation from a parent (38.7%), while fathers cited emotional abuse as the most frequent negative experience. These ACE scores were significantly higher than those reported from community samples. Post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed in 75 (29.3%) of the 256 patients. A total of 44.6% of children of mothers and 53.8% of children of fathers reporting at least one ACE showed a CATS score above the cut-off. Conclusions: Parents of child psychiatric patients show higher scores of adverse childhood experiences than a community sample with the same population background. Further empirical studies in parents of child psychiatric patients and a larger sample seem mandatory in the face of these results.