Structural equation modeling of repeated retrospective reports of childhood maltreatment

The present study examined errors of reporting, including unreliability and recall bias, in retrospective reports of childhood maltreatment. Data were gathered on retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse and current mental health in a birth cohort of over 980 participants studied at ages 18 and 21. A structural equation model was developed to estimate the contributions of test unreliability and recall bias to reporting variation. Retrospective abuse reports were of modest test-retest reliability (r(tt)  = 0.50 approximately). Recall bias accounted for <1% of report variance. As a consequence the observed correlations between maltreatment and mental health closely approximated the corresponding estimated true correlations. The results of the study suggested that, for this cohort, errors of measurement in reports of childhood maltreatment did not pose a significant threat to study validity.