Associations between self-reported and agency-reported child maltreatment and mental illness in later life: Results from the CALM study.

BACKGROUND

Child maltreatment (CM), including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and neglect, has been consistently linked to various mental illnesses. Research directly comparing self-reported versus agency-reported CM, however, is limited, especially with official mental health services use.

OBJECTIVES

This study compared associations between hospital admissions and community mental health service use for mental illness in self-reported versus agency-reported CM.

PARTICIPANTS AND

SETTING

Agency-reported CM from 0 to 15 years was linked to an Australian birth cohort via administrative record linkage, and self-reported CM was collected at 30-year follow-up.

RESULTS

The sample included 2392 individuals. Self-reported CM was significantly associated with admissions for any type of mental illness (ORadj = 2.84, 95%CI 1.95-4.13), psychotic disorders (ORadj = 3.26, 95%CI 1.79-5.95), and common mental disorders (ORadj = 3.38, 95%CI 2.13-5.36), as well as increased community mental health service use (ORadj = 3.66, 95%CI 2.43-5.52). Agency-reported CM was only associated with admissions for any type of mental illness (ORadj = 2.36, 95%CI 1.32-4.21), and increased community mental health service use (ORadj = 2.91, 95%CI 1.62-5.25).

CONCLUSION

Self-reported CM showed higher effect sizes with higher degrees of certainty with all forms of mental illness service use compared to agency-reported CM, highlighting the need to consider both in future research.