Typologies of childhood maltreatment and associations with internalizing symptoms among university students in Singapore: A latent class analysis

Abstract

This study used Latent Class Analysis to identify typologies of childhood maltreatment (CM) and the associations of CM with five internalizing symptoms. A sample of 1,042 university students in Singapore answered online self-report questionnaires, inclusive of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, a modified version of the 14-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale derived from the CES-D, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (version 6.0), and Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale. These measures respectively assessed CM and current internalizing symptoms, namely, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, PTSD, eating disorder, and suicidal ideation. The most common type of CM was childhood emotional neglect (74.6%), followed by childhood emotional abuse (61%). Men were more likely to experience childhood physical abuse compared to women; contrarily, women were two times more likely to report childhood emotional abuse compared to men. The findings of Latent Class Analysis revealed four distinct latent classes of CM: Low CM, high/multiple CM, moderate to high abuse/victimization, and moderate to high neglect. Students in the latter three CM classes were more likely than those in the Low CM class to report the internalizing symptoms. These findings indicate the importance of protecting children from CM and cushioning the adverse effects of CM on victims by providing timely intervention, both of which would be best achieved with the education of professionals, caregivers and the public alike, and improvements to current programs and practices.