SynthesisChild abuse & neglect2020
Child maltreatment and depression: A meta-analysis of studies using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.
Synthesis in Child abuse & neglect, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 242 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
242 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 517 citations in OpenAlex.
- Childhood emotional maltreatment and trauma-related outcomes: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Pooled it
- Associations between five forms of child maltreatment and depression: a multilevel meta-analytic comparison.Psychological medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Health effects associated with exposure of children to physical violence, psychological violence and neglect: a Burden of Proof study.Nature human behaviour · 2025Pooled it
- Childhood maltreatment and the risk of eating disorders: a meta-analysis of observational studies.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2025Pooled it
- The Association Between Child Maltreatment and Loneliness Across the Lifespan: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis.Child maltreatment · 2024Pooled it
- The Relationship Between Negative Self-Concept, Trauma, and Maltreatment in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Cognitive Specificity Enhancement Training (CoST) in depressed patients with a history of childhood maltreatment: a pilot study on the feasibility and efficacy of CoST for reducing rumination, cognitive avoidance, and depressive symptoms.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Trial
- Therapeutic effects of short-term trauma stabilization techniques combined with escitalopram in treating adolescent major depressive disorder: a pilot randomised controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Understanding the developmental impact of psychological maltreatment through the lens of the dimensional model of adversity and psychopathology.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Social contact recovery and depressive symptoms after the pandemic lockdowns: the lasting impact of child neglect.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Childhood experiences of abuse and neglect: links with different psychopathology symptom dimensions in a Mexican sample.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- The correlations between psychotic symptoms and childhood maltreatment as well as sex differences in adolescents with major depressive disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Resilience beyond diagnosis: prospective neural correlates of better-than-expected outcomes in depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Parental, peer, and individual determinants of depression among adolescents and young adults: estimates from a within-between model.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- The role of alexithymia in the association between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms in Chinese men with methamphetamine use disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Childhood adversity subgroups and their associations with mental health symptoms among Rhode Island young adults.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Sequelae of child maltreatment: Umbrella synthesis of 148 meta-analyses on the mental health correlates.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Childhood Trauma and Aggression: The Role of Epistemic Trust.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2026Article
- Emotional Abuse in Childhood and Social Anxiety Symptoms in Adulthood: Examining the Role of Self-Compassion.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2026Article
182 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundResearchers have documented that child maltreatment is associated with adverse long-term consequences for mental health, including increased risk for depression. Attempts to conduct meta-analyses of the association between different forms of child maltreatment and depressive symptomatology in adulthood, however, have been limited by the wide range of definitions of child maltreatment in the literature.
objectiveWe sought to meta-analyze a single, widely-used dimensional measure of child maltreatment, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, with respect to depression diagnosis and symptom scores. PARTICIPANTS AND
setting192 unique samples consisting of 68,830 individuals.
methodsWe explored the association between total scores and scores from specific forms of child maltreatment (i.e., emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect) and depression using a random-effects meta-analysis.
resultsWe found that higher child maltreatment scores were associated with a diagnosis of depression (g = 1.07; 95 % CI, 0.95-1.19) and with higher depression symptom scores (Z = .35; 95 % CI, .32-.38). Moreover, although each type of child maltreatment was positively associated with depression diagnosis and scores, there was variability in the size of the effects, with emotional abuse and emotional neglect demonstrating the strongest associations.
conclusionsThese analyses provide important evidence of the link between child maltreatment and depression, and highlight the particularly larger association with emotional maltreatment in childhood.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.