Despite the well-documented link between child maltreatment (CM) and mental health, evidence suggests substantial variability in the post-traumatic sequelae of CM across cultures. The perceived acceptability of CM in one’s community might moderate the association between CM and mental health, but little research has been conducted on it so far. This study examined how the perceived acceptability of CM may influence the relationship between CM experiences and post-traumatic symptoms in individuals from four different continents and if the pattern of associations is the same across countries. We recruited a sample of 478 adults from Cameroon ( n = 111), Canada ( n = 137), Japan ( n = 108), and Germany ( n = 122). We administered online questionnaires and performed multiple group moderation analyses for total CM, neglect, physical abuse, emotional maltreatment, sexual abuse, and exposure to domestic violence (DV). A significant positive main effect of CM on post-traumatic symptoms was found in the overall sample and in Cameroon; in Germany, only neglect and emotional maltreatment were positively associated to post-traumatic symptoms. Moderation effects were identified; the perceived acceptability of neglect in Cameroon and Germany and of exposure to DV in Cameroon had a dampening effect on the relationship between CM experiences and post-traumatic symptoms. Our findings confirm that CM experiences entail long-term post-traumatic sequelae that can vary across cultures and CM subtypes and further our understanding of this issue by showing that the perceived acceptability of CM may be an understudied moderator.

中文翻译：

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对儿童虐待的认知接受度作为儿童虐待经历与创伤后症状之间关联的调节因素：一项跨文化研究

尽管虐待儿童 (CM) 与心理健康之间的联系已有充分记录，但有证据表明，不同文化中虐待儿童的创伤后后遗症存在很大差异。社区对 CM 的接受度可能会调节 CM 与心理健康之间的关联，但迄今为止对此进行的研究还很少。这项研究探讨了对 CM 的认知可接受性如何影响来自四个不同大陆的个体的 CM 经历与创伤后症状之间的关系，以及不同国家之间的关联模式是否相同。我们招募了来自喀麦隆 (n = 111)、加拿大 (n = 137)、日本 (n = 108) 和德国 (n = 122) 的 478 名成年人样本。我们进行了在线问卷调查，并对总体 CM、忽视、身体虐待、情感虐待、性虐待和家庭暴力暴露 (DV) 进行了多组调节分析。在整个样本和喀麦隆，发现 CM 对创伤后症状具有显着的积极主效应；在德国，只有忽视和情感虐待与创伤后症状呈正相关。确定了调节效应；喀麦隆和德国对忽视的认知可接受性以及喀麦隆对家庭暴力暴露的认知程度对 CM 经历与创伤后症状之间的关系产生抑制作用。我们的研究结果证实，CM 经历会带来长期的创伤后后遗症，这种后遗症可能因文化和 CM 亚型而异，并通过表明 CM 的感知可接受性可能是一个未被充分研究的调节因素，进一步加深了我们对这个问题的理解。