Measurement and the epidemiology of childhood trauma

A review dealing with the epidemiology of traumatic experiences in childhood and adolescence will be of limited use without some attention being devoted to various demanding issues of measurement that are involved. The relevant literature on such experience is now large, with most research based on the use of standardized questionnaires. Although this has by and large been good enough to open up the field as a research enterprise, the task of establishing causal mechanisms in areas such as psychopathology is unlikely to flourish without a much greater investment in interview-based instruments using investigator-based ratings. Here research on the causative role of life events in general in the onset and course of psychiatric and physical disorder in both childhood and adulthood has a good deal to offer. Within the context of this emphasis on the importance of measurement various issues are discussed, such as the need to take account of nonabusive experience, particularly of correlated experiences such as parental neglect, the importance of obtaining time-based data and the need to take a population perspective where issues of prevalence are concerned.