Childhood abuse/neglect has a greater impact on the mental health of a person. People who have faced childhood abuse leave an impactful mark as they grow up as adults. According to recent research, the way a childhood abuse/neglect is remembered and processed leaves a greater impact on the mental health than the experience itself.
The research conducted a large longitudinal study that involved 1, 196 participants of 40 years of age to investigate how the experiences of childhood abuse/neglect impact the development of emotional disorders in adulthood.
The research found that young adults who have retrospectively experienced childhood maltreatment before the age of 12 have higher number of people suffering from depression or anxiety over the subsequent decade than those who have not been abused or treated badly.
Participants who have an official record of childhood treatment but are not able recall of their experience have a similar number of emotional disorders during adulthood as compared to those who have no faced such maltreatment.
The research reveals that how a person perceives and remembers experiences of childhood abuse or neglect has greater affect on future emotional disorders than the experience itself. The findings suggest that early interventions that help to deal with childhood abuse memories and/or neglect may prevent emotional problems later in the future.
The participants were interviewed about their retrospective experiences of childhood maltreatment and their current and past mental health. The participants were re-interviewed to measure the course of depression and anxiety symptoms.
However, further analyses showed that the association between self-reported experiences of childhood maltreatment and a greater number of subsequent anxiety and depression can be explained by participants’ current and past mental health conditions.