Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 165, Issues 1–2, 30 January 2009, Pages 187-192
Psychiatry Research

Brief report
Association between childhood trauma and aggression in male prisoners

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2008.04.026Get rights and content

Abstract

Childhood trauma and aggression were examined in 540 male prisoners. The Thus 540 male prisoners had a psychiatric interview, completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and were assessed with the Brown-Goodwin Lifetime History of Aggression (BGHA) interview. There were significant correlations between CTQ scores and BGHA scores. Also prisoners with CTQ scores above the median had significantly higher BGHA scores than prisoners with CTQ scores below the median. Significantly more of the prisoners with CTQ scores above the median had more than one conviction, and significantly more had convictions as minors, and had exhibited violent behavior in prison. However, in logistic regression analyses that included possible confounding variables, CTQ scores related only to violence in prison while BGHA scores related to violent crime, having more than one conviction, conviction as a minor, and violence in prison. The relationship between CTQ and BGHA scores suggests the possibility that childhood trauma may be one determinant of aggression in prisoners.

Introduction

Human aggression and violence are major public health problems. Aggression is generally considered to be multi-determined. Predisposing factors for aggression include genetic factors, the fetal environment, obstetric complications, the rearing environment, biologic factors, and psychiatric disorders like substance abuse, psychosis, depression, and personality disorders (Citrome and Volavka, 2003). In relation to biologic factors, studies over the last three decades have led to the conclusion that the serotonergic system is a behavioral inhibitory system that appears to play a defining role in impulsivity and aggression (Brown et al., 1979a, Brown et al., 1979b, Coccaro and Seiver, 1995). A parallel line of investigation has concerned the possible role of developmental factors in aggression. For example, Widom (1989) found that significantly more of 908 abused or neglected children, compared with 667 control children, went on to exhibit delinquency, adult criminal behavior, and violent criminal behavior.

Problems with aggression are particularly prevalent among the forensic population. Some previous studies have examined childhood trauma in forensic populations. For example, among 301 male offenders, Weeks and Widom (1998) reported that two thirds had experienced physical and sexual abuse while Dutton and Hart (1992) noted that 415 of 601 offenders reported childhood trauma. However, otherwise there have been few studies of childhood trauma directly in prisoners and, to the best of our knowledge, none using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The CTQ is a screening measure for childhood maltreatment histories and has been used extensively in clinical studies of psychiatric patients (Bernstein et al., 1994, Bernstein et al., 1997). Therefore, in an attempt to fill this gap, we administered the CTQ to prisoners to test the hypothesis that there would be a significant association between childhood trauma and aggression in prisoners. In order to do this, we interviewed a sample of 540 prisoners, administered the CTQ and the Brown-Goodwin History of Aggression interview, and recorded details of each prisoner's history of convictions and of violence in the prison.

Section snippets

Subjects and methods

Study participants were 540 male prisoners detained in jails of the District of Abruzzo-Molise, Italy. High security correctional facilities, where the majority of prisoners have committed violent crimes and been convicted for lengthy periods, participated in the study as well as lower security penitentiary institutions. All prisoners that were present in the jails were considered eligible for the study. The only inclusion criterion was that the prisoner was willing to participate in the study

Results

Of the 731 prisoners who were informed about the study, 540 (73.9%) agreed to participate, and 191 (24.1%) refused to participate. Demographic data for the sample are presented in Table 1. In 229 of the 540 prisoners (42.4%), the current imprisonment was for a violent crime (Table 1).

Firstly prisoners were divided into two groups by whether their CTQ score was above or below the median CTQ score. The only significant socio-demographic differences between these two groups were that significantly

Discussion

In the present study childhood trauma scores on the CTQ were examined in relation to aspects of aggressive behavior in a large sample of 540 prisoners. Firstly, it was found, as hypothesized, that there were significant relationships between CTQ scores and BGHA scores. For example, it was found that prisoners who reported high levels of childhood trauma had significantly higher lifetime aggression scores on the BGHA. There were also significant positive correlations between total CTQ scores and

Declaration of interest

Dr. Vladimir Carli is consultant psychiatrist in two correctional facilities involved in the study. The other authors do not have any relationship with any organization whose interests, financial or otherwise, might be affected by the publication of this report.

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