Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32106231›Full record

ArticlePloS one2020

Measuring childhood maltreatment: Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Maltreatment and Abuse Chronology of Exposure (MACE) scale.

Roar Fosse, Dag Vegard Skjelstad, Inga Schalinski, Dorothea Thekkumthala, Thomas Elbert, Chris Margaret Aanondsen, Hanne Klæboe Greger, Thomas Jozefiak

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Differential effects of childhood maltreatment types and timing on psychopathology in formerly out-of-home placed young adults.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Young Adults with a History of Residential Youth Care: A Cohort Profile of a Hard-to-Reach Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024
    Article
  8. Development and Validation of the Weighted Index for Childhood Adverse Conditions (WICAC).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
    Article
  9. Measuring early life adversity: A dimensional approach.Development and psychopathology · 2022
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Roar FosseDepartment of Mental health and addiction, Vestre Viken hospital trust, Asker, Norway.ORCID 0000-0002-9335-6465
Dag Vegard SkjelstadDepartment of Mental health and addiction, Vestre Viken hospital trust, Asker, Norway.
Inga SchalinskiCharité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Institute of Medical Psychology, Berlin, Germany.
Dorothea ThekkumthalaDepartment of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Thomas ElbertDepartment of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Chris Margaret AanondsenInstitute of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Hanne Klæboe GregerInstitute of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Thomas JozefiakInstitute of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeAdverse childhood experiences in sensitive periods of the developing brain render the individual at a life-long risk for a broad spectrum of aberrant health outcomes. However, there is a lack of scales for the comprehensive assessment of adverse childhood experiences providing information of various types and the age of occurrence. Based on the complete, experimental version of the Maltreatment and abuse chronology of exposure (MACE-X) scale, the present study aimed to develop and psychometrically test a Norwegian version of MACE.

methodsThe 75-item MACE-X was translated from German to Norwegian and administered as a self-report measure to 90 outpatients and 145 employees at a Division of specialized mental health care in South-Eastern Norway. The outpatients also completed the Childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) and the Symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90) to investigate convergent and predictive validity. To investigate test-retest reliability, outpatients completed MACE once more two weeks later.

resultsRasch analysis and Anderson likelihood ratio tests on the combined outpatient and employee data resulted in a 55 item version of the Norwegian MACE. In the outpatient group, test-retest reliability of the MACE-55 was excellent for total scores (ICC ≥ 0.94) and good to excellent for 10 subscale scores (ICC ≥ 0.82). Convergent validity with the CTQ was moderate to high for both total scores (0.63 ≥ r ≥ 0.86) and subscale scores (0.56 ≥ r ≥ 0.82). As compared to CTQ total scores, a MACE total score that combined severity and duration of exposure was numerically more strongly associated with overall psychiatric symptoms and each of nine symptom domains on the SCL-90.

conclusionsThe newly developed Norwegian MACE comprehensively assesses past exposure to adverse childhood experiences with high psychometric properties. This scale is a useful tool for research questions addressing sensitive periods for childhood adversities and associated health phenotypes.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAdverse Childhood ExperiencesAgedAge FactorsChildChild AbuseFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNorwayOutpatientsPsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsSelf Report

Identifiers

PMID32106231
PMCPMC7046287

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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.