Childhood Maltreatment and Biological Aging in Middle Adulthood: The Role of Psychiatric Symptoms.

Background: Childhood maltreatment and psychiatric morbidity have each been associated with accelerated biological aging primarily through cross-sectional studies. Using data from a prospective longitudinal study of individuals with histories of childhood maltreatment and control participants followed into midlife, we tested 2 hypotheses examining whether 1) psychiatric symptoms mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and biological aging and 2) psychiatric symptoms of anxiety, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) act in conjunction with childhood maltreatment to exacerbate the association of child maltreatment to aging. Methods: Children (ages 0-11 years) with documented histories of maltreatment and demographically matched control children were followed into adulthood (N = 607) and interviewed over several waves of the study. Depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms were assessed at mean ages of 29 (interview 1) and 40 (interview 2) years. Biological age was measured from blood chemistries collected later (mean age = 41 years) using the Klemera-Doubal method. Hypotheses were tested using linear regressions and path analyses. Results: Adults with documented histories of childhood maltreatment showed more symptoms of depression, PTSD, and anxiety at both interviews and more advanced biological aging, compared with control participants. PTSD symptoms at both interviews and depression and anxiety symptoms only at interview 2 predicted accelerated biological aging. There was no evidence of mediation; however, anxiety and depression moderated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and biological aging. Conclusions: These new findings reveal the shorter- and longer-term longitudinal impact of PTSD on biological aging and the amplifying effect of anxiety and depression on the relationship between child maltreatment and biological aging.

Childhood maltreatment and psychiatric morbidity are associated with biological aging. We used data from a prospective longitudinal study of children with documented histories of maltreatment and demographically matched control participants followed and interviewed in adulthood. Depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were assessed at ages 29 and 40 years, and biological age was measured from blood chemistries collected later. Adults with histories of childhood maltreatment showed more symptoms of depression, PTSD, and anxiety and more advanced biological aging compared with control participants. PTSD symptoms predicted accelerated biological aging longitudinally. Anxiety and depression amplified the relationship between child maltreatment and biological aging.

Factors influencing adult cognitive appraisals of childhood sexual abuse.

BACKGROUND: Adult appraisals of their childhood sexual experiences as abusive are associated with increased risk for long-term psychological problems. Factors that underlie whether adults appraise their childhood sexual experiences as abusive remain unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine factors associated with adult cognitive appraisals of childhood sexual abuse. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants were 1196 adults ages 19-41 (M = 29.23, SD = 3.84) with documented cases of childhood maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect) during the years 1967-1971 and demographically matched controls who were followed-up and interviewed in adulthood. METHODS: Using a prospective cohort design, participants were asked to recall whether they had any sexual experiences in childhood, and if so, the frequency of abuse, age at the onset of abuse, relationship to perpetrator, and whether they appraised the experiences as sexually abusive. RESULTS: Over half of the sample (52%) reported childhood sexual experiences, yet only 44% considered those experiences sexually abusive. Participants with documented cases of child sexual abuse and neglect were more likely to appraise their childhood sexual experiences as abusive compared to controls. Participants who reported more severe abuse, more frequent abuse, younger age at the onset of abuse, and intrafamilial and both intra- and extrafamilial abuse (vs. extrafamilial abuse) were more likely to consider their experiences abusive. Compared to males and Black participants, females and White participants were more likely to appraise their experiences as abusive. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding factors that determine adult cognitive appraisals of childhood sexual experiences as abusive can inform clinical interventions for maltreated populations.

Mock Jurors' Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse Cases: Investigating the Role of Delayed Disclosure and Relationship to the Perpetrator.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) claims brought forward weeks, months, or years after the alleged events are commonplace, yet the trial-level ramifications of delayed disclosure remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated the influence of length of delayed disclosure (1 day, 1 month, 10 months) as a function of the victim-perpetrator relationship (next-door neighbor, stepfather) on mock jurors' perceptions of a CSA case. Jury-eligible participants (N = 328) read a mock trial summary describing an alleged incident of CSA between an adult male defendant and a seven-year-old female victim. Participants then rendered various case judgments. When length of delay was 10 months versus 1 day, mock jurors rendered fewer guilty verdicts and lower ratings of victim trustworthiness, believability, memory strength, and memory accuracy. Effects of length of delay varied as a function of the victim-perpetrator relationship, but only when the perpetrator was the victim's next-door neighbor versus stepfather. When the perpetrator was the victim's next-door neighbor, participants rated the likelihood of abuse as higher and the victim's memory as stronger with shorter versus longer lengths of delay. Delay did not vary as a function of the victim-perpetrator relationship when the perpetrator was the victim's stepfather. Findings have implications for trial-level safeguards (e.g., expert testimony) in CSA cases involving delayed disclosure.

Analyzing the scientific foundation of Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome: A reply to Lyon et al.

The issue before the New Jersey Supreme Court in the Frye hearing New Jersey v. J.L.G. (2018) was whether the scientific community agreed that Summit's (1983) Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome rested on a firm scientific foundation. Lyon et al. (this issue) critique our approach to describing child sexual abuse disclosure, which involved extrapolating rates from children who came to the attention of authorities. Lyon et al. claim that our conclusions are marred by sampling biases resulting from what they term the ground truth problem, suspicion bias and substantiation bias. The points Lyon et al. claim we "fell victim to" were the very points we acknowledge are inherent difficulties in estimating the extent to which children will come forward to tell others about sexual maltreatment. Lyon et al. offer an alternative solution to the inherent difficulties in studying a difficult-to-identify population, relying in large part on 21 papers published mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. We argue that the method they propose has more flaws than the one it is intended to replace. Points of agreement and disagreement, along with suggestions for future research, are discussed. Moving forward, we argue that studies are needed that embrace both validity and generalizability in order to foster data-driven theories rather than invoking the intuitive suppositions of Summit's (1983) syndromal evidence.