Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39039222›Full record

ArticleEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2025

Maternal child maltreatment and trajectories of offspring behavioural and emotional difficulties from age 4 to 7 years - results from a prospective birth cohort study.

Vera Clemens, Deborah Wernecke, Jörg M Fegert, Jon Genuneit, Dietrich Rothenbacher, Stefanie Braig

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

6 authors.

Vera ClemensDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
Deborah WerneckeInstitute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Helmholtzstraße 22, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
Jörg M FegertDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
Jon GenuneitInstitute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Helmholtzstraße 22, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
Dietrich RothenbacherInstitute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Helmholtzstraße 22, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
Stefanie BraigInstitute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Helmholtzstraße 22, 89081, Ulm, Germany. stefanie.braig@uni-ulm.de.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Maternal experience of child maltreatment (CM) has been associated with maternal and child mental health. However, evidence about the course of child mental health and maternal CM is scarce. Therefore, this study aims to compare trajectories of mental health in children according to maternal CM exposure and maternal mental health. We included 327 mothers and their singleton child from the Ulm SPATZ Health Study, a prospective birth cohort study. Child mental health was determined by the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at the age of 4, 5, 6, and 7 years and maternal CM by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Results display that maternal CM is associated with more behavioural and emotional difficulties in children, a trend that tends to increase with older child age. The sum of maternal mental health problems across this time course mediates this association. Male child sex is associated with more mental health problems in the child and the mother. These results provide an important first insight into the relevance of maternal CM on the trajectories of mental health in the offspring and highlight the importance of chronicity and severity of maternal mental health. Further prospective research in cohorts with longer follow-ups up into adolescence and adulthood is needed.

Indexed as

Affective SymptomsChild AbuseMothersAdultBirth CohortChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansMaleProspective StudiesCourse of child mental healthMaternal experience of child maltreatmentStrength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)Trajectories

Identifiers

PMID39039222
PMCPMC11909082

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