Summary: Up to 40% of prevalent mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression and substance abuse stem from childhood abuse. The study estimates that addressing child maltreatment could prevent more than 1.8 million cases of these disorders.
Specifically, child abuse accounts for 41% of suicide attempts and 35% of self-harm cases nationally. This comprehensive review underscores the urgent need to address child abuse and neglect as a public health priority, with potential policy interventions to alleviate family stress and support mental health.
Key factors:
- Extensive impact: Child maltreatment contributes significantly to mental health conditions in Australia, affecting major life outcomes such as depression, anxiety and self-harm.
- Preventive potential: Eradicating child abuse could prevent millions of mental health cases and significantly reduce years lost to death or disability due to these conditions.
- Policy recommendations: Study advocates for policy-driven prevention measures, such as paid parental leave and affordable child care, to reduce rates of child abuse.
Source: University of Sydney
A study examining child abuse in Australia has revealed the shocking burden on Australians, estimating it causes up to 40 per cent of common mental health conditions over a lifetime.
The mental health conditions examined were anxiety, depression, harmful use of alcohol and drugs, self-harm and suicide attempts. Child abuse is classified as physical, sexual and emotional abuse and emotional or physical neglect before the age of 18.
Child abuse was found to account for 41% of suicide attempts in Australia, 35% of self-harm and 21% of depression.
The analysis, published in JAMA Psychiatry is the first study to provide estimates of the proportion of mental health conditions in Australia arising from child maltreatment.
The researchers said the findings are a wake-up call for child abuse and neglect to be treated as a national public health priority.
The results are devastating and are an urgent call to invest in prevention not only by supporting individual children and families, but also wider policies to reduce the stress experienced by families, said Dr Lucinda Grummitt of the Matilda Center in the University of Sydney, who led the study.
Investments to address child maltreatment have the potential to prevent millions of cases of mental disorders in Australia.
The analysis also found that if child abuse was eradicated in Australia, more than 1.8 million cases of depression, anxiety and substance use disorders could be prevented.
The study also found that eliminating child abuse in Australia would, by 2023, have prevented 66,143 years of life lost (death) and 118,493 years lived with disability, for a total of 184,636 healthy life years lost to health conditions mental
The researchers looked at data that included national surveys provided by the Australian Child Maltreatment Study 2023 (8500 participants), the Australian National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2020-2022 (15,893 participants) and the Australian Burden Study of Disease 2023.
The study used analytical methods to investigate the link between childhood abuse and mental health, which isolated other influential factors such as genetics or social environments. This provides stronger evidence that child abuse causes some mental health conditions.
Mental health conditions are currently the leading cause of disease burden globally, affecting 13% of the world’s population. In Australia, suicide is the leading cause of death among young people.
Previous research (independent of the University of Sydney study) found that more than half (53.8%) of Australians were abused as children.
Dr Grummitt said there are effective interventions, such as programs to support abused children or parenting education programmes, but the most sustainable solution to preventing child abuse is policy-driven prevention.
Policies to ease the stress families experience, such as paid parental leave, affordable childcare, income support such as Jobseeker and ensuring parents have access to treatment and support for their own mental health they could make a difference to Australian children.
Addressing the social and economic conditions that lead to child maltreatment can play an important role in preventing mental disorders nationally, Dr. Grummitt said.
The researchers cite an example in the United States, where the introduction of state paid parental leave policies and timely access to subsidized child care were strongly linked to reduced rates of child maltreatment.
About this childhood trauma and mental health research news
Author: Ivy Shih
Source: University of Sydney
Contact: Ivy Shih – University of Sydney
Image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original search: Closed access
“Burden of Mental Disorders and Suicide Attributable to Child Maltreatment” by Lucinda Grummitt et al. JAMA Psychiatry
Summary
Burden of mental disorders and suicide attributable to child maltreatment
importance
The proportion of mental disorders and burden causally attributable to child maltreatment is unknown.
Goal
Determining the contribution of child maltreatment to mental health conditions in Australia, accounting for genetic and environmental confounding.
Design, setting and participants
This meta-analysis involved an epidemiological assessment that considers genetic and environmental confounding between maltreatment and mental health and 3 cross-sectional national surveys: the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) 2023, the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2020-2022, and the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2023.
Causal estimates of the association between child maltreatment and mental health conditions were derived from a meta-analysis of quasi-experimental studies. This was combined with ACMS maltreatment prevalence to calculate the population attributable fraction (PAF).
The PAF was applied to the number and burden of mental health conditions in Australia, from 2 nationally representative population surveys of Australians aged 16–85, to generate the number and associated burden of mental disorders attributable to the child abuse
exhibition
Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or neglect before the age of 18.
Main results and measures
Proportion and number of cases, years of life lost, years lived with disability and disability-adjusted life years of mental health conditions (anxiety, depression, harmful use of alcohol and drugs, self-harm and suicide attempt) attributable to maltreatment childish
results
Meta-analytic estimates were generated from 34 studies and 54,646 participants and applied to child maltreatment prevalence estimates generated from 8,503 Australians. Child maltreatment accounted for a substantial proportion of mental health conditions, ranging from 21% (95% CI, 13%–28%) for depression to 41% (95% CI, 27%– 54%) of suicide attempts.
More than 1.8 million cases of depressive, anxiety and substance use disorders could be prevented if child abuse were eradicated. Maltreatment accounted for 66143 life-years lost (95% CI, 43313-87314), mainly due to suicide, and 184636 disability-adjusted life-years (95% CI, 109321-252887).
Conclusions and relevance
This study provides the first estimates of the causal contribution of child maltreatment to mental health in Australia. The results highlight the urgency of preventing child maltreatment to reduce the population prevalence and burden of mental disorders.
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