Investigating the relationship between childhood maltreatment and alcohol misuse in a sample of Danish young adults: Exploring gender differences

BACKGROUND - This study examined the relationship between alcohol misuse and different types of childhood maltreatment in a sample of young adults while controlling for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and current mental disorders. This study further examined if these associations were different for males and females. METHODS - Data were collected from a Danish national study conducted by The Danish National Centre for Social Research in 2008 and 2009. A sample of 4718 young adults (24 years of age) was randomly selected using the total birth cohort of children born in 1984. Structured interviews were conducted with a response rate of 63%, equating to a total sample size of 2980 participants. RESULTS - Three types of child maltreatment were assessed; emotional abuse (N = 263), sexual abuse (N= 59), and multiple abuse (N= 64) alongside a non-abused (N= 2595) control group. Findings indicated the three maltreatment groups were all related to alcohol misuse. Maltreated women in particular had a 16-to-25-fold increased risk of alcohol misuse. For males these associations were attenuated with odds ratios (OR) ranging between 3 and 5 for emotional and multiple abuse groups. PTSD symptoms were associated with alcohol misuse for both genders, whilst current mental health disorder was non-significant for both males and females. CONCLUSION - A significant relationship was found between the child maltreatment and alcohol misuse. This relationship was significantly stronger for maltreated women, which identifies a gap in the literature. High associations between maltreatment and alcohol misuse in females may suggest alcohol is used as a coping strategy following childhood maltreatment.