Increasing childhood trauma in Canada: findings from the National Population Health Survey, 1994/95.

Age-cohort variation in childhood trauma was examined in the present study. The data were taken from the 1994/95 Canadian National Population Health Survey of household residents (n = 15,106). Childhood trauma was measured by a seven-item index (items reflected physical abuse, fearful experiences, hospitalization, being sent away from home, and parental disturbance). Reported prevalence of childhood trauma increased with each successively younger age-cohort (range = 31% to 60%). Females showed a larger change than males, and age differences grew more pronounced as trauma exposure increased. The data suggest that childhood trauma has been on the increase over the last few decades. This is in accord with findings from other studies which showed that depression and social problems have also been on the rise. This suggests that adult psychiatric sequelae of early trauma can be expected to show an increase in future years.