Childhood maltreatment among university students in Turkey: prevalence, demographic factors, and health-related quality of life consequences

ABSTRACT

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a global problem with serious life-long consequences. The purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence of CM among university students and to assess the associations between CM and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adulthood. The present descriptive cross-sectional study involved 626 students who had been selected by means of a cluster sampling method from among all the students studying in Giresun University. CM was assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire at interview and HRQOL was assessed using the Duke Health Profile. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson chi-square tests, independent samples t-test, and binary logistic regression. About half (43.5%) of the students reported exposure to some form of CM. Logistic regression analysis showed that male gender, parental separation or divorce, poorer familial relationships, lower socioeconomic status, smoking and alcohol consumption were significantly associated with CM. A significant correlation emerged between CM and physical health, general health, perceived health, self-esteem, anxiety, pain and disability. CM is common among university students in Turkey. Students who had experienced CM had significant and sustained losses in HRQOL in adulthood relative to students who had not experienced maltreatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Child maltreatment
• prevalence
• health-related quality of life
• students

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the students who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethics

Ethics Committee consent (Giresun University 2019/12) received to perform the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.