Exposure to potentially traumatic events in young Swiss men: associations with socio-demographics and mental health outcomes (alcohol use disorder, major depression and suicide attempts)

Figures & data

Table 1. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates of PTEs in the study cohort.

			Life-time prevalence		12-Month Prevalence
		N = 5,035*	n	%	n	%
	Any PTE	5,035	2,991	59.4	1572	31.2
	Multiple types of PTEs	5,035	1,879	37.3	640	12.7
THQ	Any other situation in which you feared you or someone else might be killed or seriously injured	5,020	1,220	24.3	506	10.1
PDS	Serious accident, fire, or explosion (e.g. an industrial, farm, car, plane, or boating accident)	5,024	1,070	21.3	338	6.7
LEC^a	Serious injury, life-threatening illness or unexpected death of a loved one	5,021	1,028	20.5	355	7.1
THQ	Been in any other situation in which you were seriously injured, or someone else was seriously injured or even killed	5,024	807	16.1	233	4.6
PDS	Non-sexual assault by a stranger (e.g. being mugged, physically attacked, shot, stabbed, or held at gunpoint)	5,022	755	15.0	267	5.3
THQ^b	Seen a severely injured person or a dead body (other than at a funeral)	5,016	700	14.0	268	5.3
PDS	Other traumatic event	5,035	528	10.5	268	5.3
PDS	Natural disaster (e.g. tornado, hurricane, flood, or major earthquake)	5,020	401	8.0	74	1.5
PDS	Non-sexual assault by a family member or someone you know (e.g. being mugged, physically attacked, shot, stabbed, or held at gunpoint)	5,024	283	5.6	94	1.9
PDS	Sexual contact when you were younger than 18 with someone who was 5 or more years older than you (e.g. contact with genitals, breasts)	5,011	261	5,2	33	7
PDS	Life-threatening illness	5,013	230	4.6	60	1.2
THQ	Anyone tried to or succeeded in breaking into your home while you were there	5,017	217	4.3	54	1.1
THQ	Any other disaster such as a building collapse, bank robbery, etc., where you felt you or your loved ones were in danger of death or injury	5,026	191	3.8	58	1.2
THQ	Exposed to dangerous chemicals or radioactivity that might threaten your health	5,014	168	3.4	100	2.0
LEC	Have you seriously injured, physically harmed or even cause death to someone else	5,020	151	3.0	40	0.8
PDS	Military combat or war zone	5,004	128	2.6	64	1.3
PDS	Imprisonment (e.g. prison inmate, prisoner of war, hostage)	5,020	101	2.0	43	0.9
PDS	Sexual assault by a family member or someone you know (e.g., rape or attempted rape)	5,022	75	1.5	13	0.3
PDS	Sexual assault by a stranger (e.g. rape or attempted rape)	5,017	62	1.2	17	0.3
PDS	Torture	5,015	46	0.9	13	0.3

Note. PTE: potentially traumatic event; PDS: Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale (Foa, 1995); THQ: Trauma History Questionnaire (Hooper, Stockton, Krupnick, & Green, 2011); LEC: Life Event Checklist (Gray, Litz, Hsu & Lombardo, 2004); All PTEs were assessed during wave 2.

^aThis item represents a combination of items 14 and 15 of the LEC; ^bThis item represents a combination of items 11 and 12 of the THQ.

*Total number of participants (N) recorded for this variable, n varies slightly between variables due to missing data.

Table 2. Logistic regression analysis for any PTE experienced during the subjects’ lifetime and over the past 12 months.

	Lifetime prevalence		12-month prevalence
	N = 5,035		N = 1,572
Any PTE	Unadjusted OR [CI]	Adjusted OR [CI]^a	Unadjusted OR [CI]	Adjusted OR [CI]^a
Socio-demographic factors
Age^b
<21	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
≥21	1.08 [0.96–1.2]	1.11 [0.99–1.25]	1.03 [0.91–1.16]	0.98 [0.87–1.11]
Linguistic region^b
German	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
French	0.81 [0.72–0.9]***	0.78 [0.69–0.89]***	1.02 [0.9–1.15]	1.05 [0.92–1.2]
Participant’s education^b
–High school/university	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Secondary vocational school	1.21 [1.07–1.36]**	1.18 [1.04–1.34]**	1.37 [1.21–1.55]***	1.42 [1.24–1.62]***
–Primary school	1.28 [1.03–1.58]*	1.28 [1.03–1.6]*	1.64 [1.32–2.04]***	1.67 [1.34–2.08]***
Mother’s education^c
–High school/university	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Secondary vocational school	0.83 [0.72–0.95]**	0.76 [0.66–0.89]***	0.93 [0.81–1.07]	0.83 [0.71–0.97]*
–Primary school	0.77 [0.63–0.93]**	0.71 [0.57–0.9]**	0.77 [0.63–0.95]*	0.63 [0.49–0.81]***
Father’s education^c
–High school/university	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Secondary vocational school	0.98 [0.87–1.11]	1.02 [0.89–1.17]	1.09 [0.96–1.24]	1.08 [0.93–1.25]
–Primary school	0.87 [0.71–1.07]	0.91 [0.71–1.16]	1.02 [0.82–1.27]	1.08 [0.84–1.4]
Family affluence^c
–Above average	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Average	0.95 [0.84–1.07]	0.98 [0.86–1.12]	1.02 [0.9–1.16]	0.97 [0.85–1.12]
–Below average	1.27 [1.07–1.51]**	1.24 [1.03–1.49]*	1.18 [0.98–1.41]	1.12 [0.92–1.35]
Living arrangement^c
–Biological parents	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Others	1.43 [1.24–1.65]***	1.4 [1.21–1.62]***	1.23 [1.06–1.42]**	1.15 [0.99–1.33]

Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

OR: Odds ratio; CI: 95% confidence interval; PTE: potentially traumatic event; ^aAdjusted for all socio-demographic variables; ^bVariable was assessed during wave 2; ^cVariable was assessed during wave 1.

Table 3. Logistic regression analysis for multiple types of PTEs experienced during the subjects’ lifetime and over the past 12 months.

	Lifetime prevalence		12-month prevalence
	N = 1879		N = 640
Multiple types of PTEs	Unadjusted OR [CI]	Adjusted OR [CI]^a	Unadjusted OR [CI]	Adjusted OR [CI]^a
Socio-demographic factors
Age^b
<21	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
≥21	1.12 [1.00 −1.25]	1.12 [0.99–1.26]	1.17 [0.99–1.38]	1.07 [0.9–1.27]
Linguistic region^b
German	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
French	0.95 [0.85–1.06]	0.92 [0.81–1.04]	1.28 [1.08–1.51]**	1.27 [1.05–1.52]*
Participant’s education^b
–High school/university	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Secondary vocational school	1.14 [1.01–1.28]*	1.11 [0.98–1.27]	1.35 [1.13–1.61]***	1.44 [1.19–1.73]***
–primary school	1.37 [1.11–1.69]**	1.32 [1.07–1.64]*	1.56 [1.17–2.09]**	1.56 [1.16–2.10]**
Mother’s education^c
–High school/university	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Secondary vocational school	0.86 [0.75–0.98]*	0.81 [0.7–0.94]**	0.83 [0.69–1.01]	0.73 [0.59–0.90]**
–Primary school	0.84 [0.69–1.02]	0.74 [0.59–0.94]*	0.69 [0.51–0.93]*	0.57 [0.40–0.80]***
Father’s education^c
–High school/university	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
– Secondary vocational school	1 [0.89–1.13]	1.02 [0.89–1.18]	1.13 [0.94–1.35]	1.13 [0.92–1.38]
–Primary school	1 [0.81–1.23]	1 [0.78–1.28]	0.93 [0.68–1.27]	0.95 [0.66–1.37]
Family affluence^c
–Above average	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Average	0.95 [0.84–1.08]	0.94 [0.82–1.07]	1.17 [0.97–1.4]	1.07 [0.88.-1.3]
–Below average	1.44 [1.21–1.71]***	1.35 [1.13–1.62]***	1.22 [0.95–1.56]	1.16 [0.89–1.51]
Living arrangement^c
–Biological parents	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
–Others	1.52 [1.33–1.75]***	1.45 [1.26–1.67]***	1.34 [1.11–1.62]**	1.21 [0.99–1.48]

Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

OR: Odds ratio; CI: 95% confidence interval; PTE: potentially traumatic event; ^aAdjusted for all socio-demographic variables; ^bVariable was assessed during wave 2; ^cVariable was assessed during wave 1.

Table 4. Mental health outcomes associated with any or multiple types of PTEs experienced in the past 12 months.

	AUD^a
	N = 1643
	Unadjusted OR [CI]	Adjusted OR [CI]^b
Any PTE^a
	1.67 [1.47–1.89]***	1.71 [1.50–1.94]***
Multiple types of PTEs^a
	1.59 [1.22–2.1]***	1.64 [1.25–2.15]***
	MD^a
	N = 147
	Unadjusted OR [CI]	Adjusted OR [CI]^b
Any PTE^a
	2.06 [1.48–2.87]***	1.94 [1.39–2.72]***
Multiple types of PTEs^a
	2.41 [1.65–3.54]***	2.26 [1.53.-3.34]***
	Suicide attempt^a
	N = 61
	Unadjusted OR [CI]	Adjusted OR [CI]^b
Any PTE^a
	3.01 [1.81–5.02]***	2.72 [1.62–4.56]***
Multiple types of PTEs^a
	5.27 [3.15–8.81]***	4.94 [2.92–8.35]***

Note. †p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

OR: Odds ratio; CI: 95% confidence interval; PTE: potentially traumatic event; AUD: alcohol use disorder; MD: major depression; ^aVariable was assessed during wave 2; ^bAdjusted for all socio-demographic factors.

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