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Effects of Childhood Trauma on Personality in a Sample of Chinese Adolescents

NCJ Number
247119
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2014 Pages: 788-796
Author(s)
XianBin Li; ZhiMin Wang; YeZhi Hou; Ying Wang; JinTong Liu; ChuanYue Wang
Date Published
April 2014
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects on personality of exposure to childhood trauma in a sample of 485 students (285 high-school students and 200 students from a secondary school) living in Jinan, China, a large city in east China.
Abstract
The study found that emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, and neuroticism were positively related. Thus, the more severe these abuses, the higher the neuroticism score on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Psychoticism was associated with emotional and sexual abuse as well as emotional and physical neglect. There were no associations between extraversion-introversion and any forms of child trauma experience. A number of studies, including the preliminary survey for this study, have indicated that personality is a main factor in mental health. Thus, efforts to reduce childhood abuse and neglect contribute to positive personality development, which in turn decreases the risk for developing mental disorders. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form was used to measure various types of abuse and neglect. Multiple linear regression of specific forms of trauma and demographics was performed on EPQ subscales. 4 tables, 1 figure, and 49 references