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Purpose: To explore gender differences of the associations between childhood adversity (CA) subtypes and psychiatric symptoms in the general population., Methods: Data of 791 participants were retrieved from a general population twin cohort. The Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were used to assess overall psychopathology with nine symptom domains scores and total CA with exposure to five CA subtypes, respectively. The associations between CA and psychopathology were analyzed in men and women separately and were subsequently compared., Results: Total CA was associated with total SCL-90 and all symptom domains without significant gender differences. However, the analyses of CA subtypes showed that the association between emotional abuse and total SCL-90 was stronger in women compared to men [χ 2 (1) = 4.10, P = 0.043]. Sexual abuse was significantly associated with total SCL-90 in women, but emotional neglect and physical neglect were associated with total SCL-90 in men. Exploratory analyses of CA subtypes and SCL-90 subdomains confirmed the pattern of gender-specific associations. In women, emotional abuse was associated with all symptom domains, and sexual abuse was associated with all except phobic anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity. In men, emotional neglect was associated with depression, and physical neglect was associated with phobic anxiety, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid ideation, and hostility subdomains., Conclusion: CA is a trans-syndromal risk factor regardless of gender. However, differential associations between CA subtypes and symptom manifestation might exist. Abuse might be particularly associated with psychopathology in women, whereas neglect might be associated with psychopathology in men., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Whilst childhood trauma (CT) is a known risk factor across the spectrum of psychosis expression, little is known about possible interplay with genetic liability., Methods: The TwinssCan Study collected data in general population twins, focussing on expression of psychosis at the level of subthreshold psychotic experiences. A multilevel mixed-effects linear regression analysis was performed including 745 subjects to assess the interaction between genetic liability and CT. The Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90-R) score of the co-twin was used as an indirect measure of genetic liability to psychopathology, while the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short-Form (CTQ-SF) was used to assess CT in the domains of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. The Community Assessment of Psychic Experience (CAPE) questionnaire was used to phenotypically characterize psychosis expression., Results: In the model using the CAPE total score, the interaction between CT and genetic liability was close to statistical significance (χ 2  = 5.6, df = 2, p = 0.06). Analyses of CAPE subscales revealed a significant interaction between CT and genetic liability (χ 2  = 8.8, df = 2, p = 0.012) for the CAPE-negative symptoms subscale, but not for the other two subscales (i.e. positive and depressive)., Conclusion: The results suggest that the impact of CT on subthreshold expression of psychosis, particularly in the negative subdomain, may be larger in the co-presence of significant genetic liability for psychopathology.