Associations between stressful life events in childhood/adolescence and adulthood: results from the 7th Tromsø survey

Background: Exposure to highly stressful life events (SLEs), such as accidents, violence, or serious illness, is common. With the accumulation of SLEs, the risk of detrimental somatic and mental health outcomes increases. To understand patterns of SLE exposure, research into the associations between...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European Journal of Psychotraumatology
Main Authors: Jens C. Thimm, Kamilla Rognmo, Hege Nermo, Jan-Are Kolset Johnsen, Ingunn Skre, Catharina E. A. Wang
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2023
Subjects:
stressful life events
trauma
childhood
adolescence
adulthood
reexposure
network analysis
Psychiatry
RC435-571
Tromsø
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2237360
https://doaj.org/article/5605fa910ab249c8b0a69e389e239ac6
Description
Summary:Background: Exposure to highly stressful life events (SLEs), such as accidents, violence, or serious illness, is common. With the accumulation of SLEs, the risk of detrimental somatic and mental health outcomes increases. To understand patterns of SLE exposure, research into the associations between SLEs is needed. Method: The sample comprised 21,069 participants of the population-based Tromsø7 (2015/2016) study (52.7% female, mean age = 57.3 years, SD = 11.4 years). Participants were asked whether they had experienced eleven SLEs in childhood/adolescence and adulthood. Correlations, network analysis, and logistic regression analysis were used to examine the associations between SLEs. Results: Medium-sized to large correlations between SLEs in childhood/adolescence and SLEs in adulthood were found. Two clusters of SLEs emerged in the network analysis in childhood/adolescence and in adulthood, respectively, interpreted as interpersonal (e.g. violence and sexual abuse) and impersonal SLEs (e.g. a life-threatening illness or serious accident). SLEs in childhood/adolescence predicted the number of SLEs in adulthood as well as exposure to the specific SLE categories in adulthood. Childhood neglect was an important predictor of SLE exposure in adulthood. Conclusions: Public health policies should focus on the prevention of SLEs and the early intervention after SLE exposure, especially childhood neglect.

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