Role of child maltreatment and gender for bipolar symptoms in young adults

Background Child maltreatment has been shown to be associated with a wide range of mental disorders, including bipolar disorders. In this 2-year follow-up study, recollections of emotional, physical and sexual abuse were related to bipolar symptoms, namely depressive, hypomanic and manic symptoms. Methods The sample consists of 134 students who took part at five measurement times within the 2-year period. Data were collected with self-report scales. Results The results show that recollections of abuse, particularly emotional abuse, were associated with more severe depressive symptoms; this finding, however, only applied to women. Hypomanic and manic symptoms were not associated with recollections of abuse. For hypomanic symptoms, however, a significant decrease over the 2 years was observed. Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that recollections of abusive experiences in childhood combined with female gender increase the risk for depression, whereas hypomanic and manic states are probably better predicted by other factors, such as current life circumstances.