Developmental trauma and its correlates: a study of Chinese children with repeated familial physical and sexual abuse in Hong Kong.

The present study examined the relevance of the developmental trauma disorder (DTD) framework (van der Kolk, ) in Hong Kong Chinese children with repeated familial physical and/or sexual abuse. Self-reports of (a) key dimensions of DTD including emotion regulation, attribution and perceptions in self and relationships, belief in future victimization, behavioral difficulties, and self-esteem; and (b) attachment styles and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reactions were obtained from children aged 9-15 years in clinical and school settings. Children were categorized into an abused trauma group (n = 82), a nonabused trauma group (n = 83), and a no-trauma control group (n = 201). The findings indicated that the DTD framework was applicable to abused children who showed a lower level of attachment security (Cohen's d from 0.50-0.61) and a higher level of PTSD reactions (Cohen's d = 0.71) than the comparison groups. After adding attachment security and emotion dysregulation to the model, there were no longer significant group differences in most of the variables.