(PS7-85) Characteristics of Childhood Trauma as Predictors of Psychosis

Previous research indicates that childhood trauma (CT) significantly increases the risk of psychotic disorders later in life (Varese et al., 2012). Research also indicates that CT is a risk factor for many other mental health problems, which leads to the question, what factors affect whether a person with a history of CT goes on to develop a psychotic disorder or other disorders? Limited research on this question has led to identification of multiple factors without much replication, so the current study aimed to collect information on characteristics of childhood trauma to identify factors that differentiate adults with a history of CT who exhibit clinically significant psychotic symptoms versus clinically significant non-psychotic symptoms. A sample of U.S. adults aged 18-65 with 45% ethnic minority identities who endorsed experiencing at least one traumatic event before age 18 (N = 308) was split into 3 groups: those who reported clinically significant psychotic symptoms (N = 133), clinically significant non-psychotic symptoms (N = 97), and subthreshold or no psychiatric symptoms (N = 78). A logistic regression using the former two groups (N = 230) was conducted to identify which characteristics of childhood trauma resulted in higher odds of being classified in the Psychotic Symptom group versus the Non-Psychotic Symptom group. The following predictor variables were entered into the logistic regression: presence of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or non-maltreatment trauma, accumulation of types of trauma, longest duration of trauma, total severity rating of all traumatic experiences, age at first exposure to trauma, mother affection in childhood, and childhood feelings of parental threat. The following covariates were included: family history of psychosis, current age, education level, and income level. The resulting model had a good classification rate (AUC = 0.76) and there were two significant predictors: age at first exposure (p < .001) and current age (p = .041). Childhood feelings of threat (e.g., experiencing one’s parents as controlling, overwhelming, or able to inflict harm) trended toward significance (p = .053). A participant with an older age at first exposure to trauma is more likely than someone with a younger age at first exposure to trauma to be classified in the Psychotic Symptoms group versus the Non-Psychotic Symptoms group (OR = 4.096). The same is true for an older participant compared to a younger participant (OR = 2.153) and a participant with greater feelings of parental threat in childhood compared to a participant reporting less feelings of parental threat (OR = 2.237). The results suggest that the later in childhood that an individual experiences their first trauma or the more threatening they view their parents to be throughout childhood, the more likely they are to exhibit clinically significant psychotic symptoms rather than non-psychotic symptoms. These results may inform early intervention and preventative practices for individuals at risk of psychosis, such as regular screening of adolescents for recent traumatic experiences, as well as providing help-seeking parents with behavior management skills to reduce negative effects of threatening and controlling parenting practices.