Francis, ER;
Tsaligopoulou, A;
Stock, SE;
Pingault, JB;
Baldwin, JR;
(2023)
Subjective and objective experiences of childhood adversity: a meta-analysis of their agreement and relationships with psychopathology.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
10.1111/jcpp.13803.
(In press).
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Abstract
Background: Researchers use both subjective self-report and objective measures, such as official records, to investigate the impact of childhood adversity on psychopathology. However, it is unclear whether subjective and objective measures of childhood adversity (a) show agreement, and (b) differentially predict psychopathology. Method: To address this, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis to examine the agreement between subjective and objective measures of childhood adversity, and their prediction of psychopathology. We searched in PubMed, PsycINFO and Embase for articles with both subjective measures (self-reports) and objective measures of childhood adversity (comprising official records, or reports from multiple informants unrelated to the target individual), and measures of psychopathology. Results: We identified 22 studies (n = 18,163) with data on agreement between subjective and objective measures of childhood adversities, and 17 studies (n = 14,789) with data on the associations between subjective and objective measures with psychopathology. First, we found that subjective and objective measures of childhood adversities were only moderately correlated (e.g. for maltreatment, r =.32, 95% CI = 0.23–0.41). Second, subjective measures of childhood adversities were associated with psychopathology, independent of objective measures (e.g. for maltreatment, r =.16, 95% CI = 0.09–0.22). In contrast, objective measures of childhood adversities had null or minimal associations with psychopathology, independent of subjective measures (e.g. r for maltreatment =.06, 95% CI = −0.02–0.13). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the effects of childhood adversity on psychopathology are primarily driven by a person's subjective experience. If this is the case, clinical interventions targeting memories and cognitive processes surrounding childhood adversity may reduce the risk of psychopathology in exposed individuals.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Subjective and objective experiences of childhood adversity: a meta-analysis of their agreement and relationships with psychopathology |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/jcpp.13803 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13803 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Childhood adversity, subjective measures, objective measures, psychopathology, meta-analysis |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10169554 |
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