caa a22 4500 605476780 CHVBK 20210128100358.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00787-014-0621-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00787-014-0621-0 Child maltreatment and psychological symptoms in a Portuguese adult community sample: the harmful effects of emotional abuse [Elektronische Daten] [Aida Dias, Luísa Sales, David Hessen, Rolf Kleber] Child maltreatment (CM) is associated with poor long-term health outcomes. However, knowledge about CM prevalence and related consequences is scarce among adults in South European countries. We examined the self-reported prevalence of five different forms of CM in a community sample of 1,200 Portuguese adults; we compared the results with similar samples from three other countries, using the same instrument. We also explored the relationship between CM and psychological symptoms. Cross-sectional data using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form and the Brief Symptom Inventory were analyzed. Moderate or severe CM exposure was self-reported by 14.7% of the sample, and 67% was exposed to more than one form of CM. Emotional neglect was the most endorsed experience, with women reporting greater emotional abuse and men reporting larger physical abuse. Physical and sexual abuse was less self-reported by Portuguese than by American or German subjects. CM exposure predicted 12.8% of the psychological distress. Emotional abuse was the strongest predictor for psychological symptoms, namely for paranoid ideation, depression, and interpersonal sensitivity. Emotional abuse overlapped with the exposure to all other CM forms, and interacted with physical abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect to predict psychological distress. Low exposure to emotional abuse was directly associated with the effects of physical abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect to predict adult psychological distress. Verbal abuse experiences were frequently reported and had the highest correlations with adult psychological distress. Our results underline the potential hurtful effects of child emotional abuse among Portuguese adults in the community. They also highlight the need to improve prevention and intervention actions to reduce exposure and consequences of CM, particularly emotional abuse. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 Childhood maltreatment nationallicence Emotional abuse nationallicence Community adults nationallicence Portugal nationallicence Psychological symptoms nationallicence Dias Aida Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands aut Sales Luísa Centro de Trauma/CES, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal aut Hessen David Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands aut Kleber Rolf Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands aut European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Springer Berlin Heidelberg 24/7(2015-07-01), 767-778 1018-8827 24:7<767 2015 24 787 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-014-0621-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-014-0621-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Dias Aida Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Sales Luísa Centro de Trauma/CES, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hessen David Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kleber Rolf Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Springer Berlin Heidelberg 24/7(2015-07-01), 767-778 1018-8827 24:7<767 2015 24 787