Minimization of Childhood Maltreatment Is Common and Consequential: Results from a Large, Multinational Sample Using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

TY - JOUR

T1 - Minimization of Childhood Maltreatment Is Common and Consequential: Results from a Large, Multinational Sample Using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

AU - MacDonald, Kai

AU - Thomas, Michael L

AU - Sciolla, Andres F

AU - Schneider, Beacher

AU - Pappas, Katherine

AU - Bleijenberg, Gijs

AU - Bohus, Martin

AU - Bekh, Bradley

AU - Carpenter, Linda

AU - Carr, Alan

AU - Dannlowski, Udo

AU - Dorahy, Martin

AU - Fahlke, Claudia

AU - Finzi-Dottan, Ricky

AU - Karu, Tobi

AU - Gerdner, Arne

AU - Glaesmer, Heide

AU - Grabe, Hans Jörgen

AU - Heins, Marianne

AU - Kenny, Dianna T

AU - Kim, Daeho

AU - Knoop, Hans

AU - Lobbestael, Jill

AU - Lochner, Christine

AU - Lauritzen, Grethe

AU - Ravndal, Edle

AU - Riggs, Shelley

AU - Sar, Vedat

AU - Schäfer, Ingo

AU - Schlosser, Nicole

AU - Schwandt, Melanie L

AU - Stein, Murray B

AU - Subic-Wrana, Claudia

AU - Vogel, Mark

AU - Wingenfeld, Katja

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Childhood maltreatment has diverse, lifelong impact on morbidity and mortality. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) is one of the most commonly used scales to assess and quantify these experiences and their impact. Curiously, despite very widespread use of the CTQ, scores on its Minimization-Denial (MD) subscale-originally designed to assess a positive response bias-are rarely reported. Hence, little is known about this measure. If response biases are either common or consequential, current practices of ignoring the MD scale deserve revision. Therewith, we designed a study to investigate 3 aspects of minimization, as defined by the CTQ's MD scale: 1) its prevalence; 2) its latent structure; and finally 3) whether minimization moderates the CTQ's discriminative validity in terms of distinguishing between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. Archival, item-level CTQ data from 24 multinational samples were combined for a total of 19,652 participants. Analyses indicated: 1) minimization is common; 2) minimization functions as a continuous construct; and 3) high MD scores attenuate the ability of the CTQ to distinguish between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. Overall, results suggest that a minimizing response bias-as detected by the MD subscale-has a small but significant moderating effect on the CTQ's discriminative validity. Results also may suggest that some prior analyses of maltreatment rates or the effects of early maltreatment that have used the CTQ may have underestimated its incidence and impact. We caution researchers and clinicians about the widespread practice of using the CTQ without the MD or collecting MD data but failing to assess and control for its effects on outcomes or dependent variables.

AB - Childhood maltreatment has diverse, lifelong impact on morbidity and mortality. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) is one of the most commonly used scales to assess and quantify these experiences and their impact. Curiously, despite very widespread use of the CTQ, scores on its Minimization-Denial (MD) subscale-originally designed to assess a positive response bias-are rarely reported. Hence, little is known about this measure. If response biases are either common or consequential, current practices of ignoring the MD scale deserve revision. Therewith, we designed a study to investigate 3 aspects of minimization, as defined by the CTQ's MD scale: 1) its prevalence; 2) its latent structure; and finally 3) whether minimization moderates the CTQ's discriminative validity in terms of distinguishing between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. Archival, item-level CTQ data from 24 multinational samples were combined for a total of 19,652 participants. Analyses indicated: 1) minimization is common; 2) minimization functions as a continuous construct; and 3) high MD scores attenuate the ability of the CTQ to distinguish between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. Overall, results suggest that a minimizing response bias-as detected by the MD subscale-has a small but significant moderating effect on the CTQ's discriminative validity. Results also may suggest that some prior analyses of maltreatment rates or the effects of early maltreatment that have used the CTQ may have underestimated its incidence and impact. We caution researchers and clinicians about the widespread practice of using the CTQ without the MD or collecting MD data but failing to assess and control for its effects on outcomes or dependent variables.

KW - Child

KW - Child Abuse

KW - Denial (Psychology)

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Psychiatric Status Rating Scales

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0146058

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0146058

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 26815788

VL - 11

SP - e0146058

JO - PLOS ONE

JF - PLOS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 1

ER -