Associations Between Childhood Trauma and Psychiatric Disorders in Adolescence in the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort

Although research with adults has found strong associations between childhood adversities and increased risk of psychopathology (Green et al., 2010; Kessler et al., 2010) such research often relies on retrospective reports of childhood trauma exposure and the presence and/or timing of onset of mental health problems. Moreover, research with youth samples is limited and findings are mixed with some studies evidencing stronger associations for some classes of disorders (Copeland et al., 2007; McLaughlin et al., 2012) while other studies report no difference in the strength of associations between disorder classes (Benjet et al., 2011; Lewis et al., 2019). Additionally, most studies have been conducted in high income countries (HIC) despite children living in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) being disproportionally more likely to experience trauma than children in HIC (Das-Munshi et al., 2016; Seedat et al., 2004). The present study aims to address several gaps and limitations of the extant literature through the use of a population-based, prospective birth cohort, namely the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort which is based in Brazil. In a recent study based on the same cohort, Bauer et al. (2022) reported significant cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between childhood trauma exposure and psychiatric disorders during childhood (up to age 11). This study will capitalise on data that were collected at ages 15 and 18 years to expand on these findings to explore associations between childhood trauma exposure and psychiatric disorders both cross-sectionally and longitudinally up to the age of 18 years. Additionally, this study will investigate both a composite ‘any trauma’ category and two specific trauma types, interpersonal trauma and non-interpersonal trauma, as research has evidenced the differential effect of trauma type on mental health outcomes for children and young people (Ford et al., 2011; Kisiel et al., 2009).