C. Wilson
Psy1462
Professor Petra Elliot
March 21, 2014

The Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Young Adults’ Substance Abuse:
A Reaction. This article contains information regarding a study carried out between 1976 and 1987 about individuals who were subject to different types of abuse between the ages of 10 and 17. The research seemed eager to show what the correlation was between type of abuse the child suffered through and what type of addiction, if any, that the victims acquired over the years. The study followed 842 participants through four years of initial interviews and 7 waves of re-interviewing for the purpose of seeking out addiction information. The final wave of testing, done in 1987, was when the youngest participants reached the maximum age of 24. The final total of 762 individuals whom answered every question and completed every interview was used to create the final graph regarding demographic versus addiction type. The study was split up by race, sex, age, and socio-economic background (welfare, etc.). The mediating effects of depression in later substance abuse were also discussed. Though interesting, this particular study lacks in depth. According to the results, sexual abuse plays very little role in substance abuse and I find this to be highly unlikely. I do agree that alcoholism is likely to be more prevalent in physical abuse cases. Quite often there seems to be a connection between alcohol and violence that it would seem likely would carry on into the victim. It is quite common for those abused as children to become abusive later on and if alcohol were involved in their abuse, to follow that trail as well. In cases where depression was also a factor, levels of alcohol abuse show a higher prevalence. In order to create a more definitive study, it is likely that specific types of abuse need to be entered into the interview process. I believe this would be better handled using anonymous surveys than an interview style. When it comes to discussing abuse and addiction, not all participants will feel comfortable discussing the levels of their abuse regardless of the scientific means with which the information is discovered. For example, a male is more likely to admit to being physically abused in terms of violence than he is to admit sexual abuse. This would leave out information crucial to the study’s ultimate