2026/07/03 by Oonagh Coleman, Maya Al-Jaber, Geethma Aponsu +2 · 1 voice
Medicine · Psychology · #Child Abuse and Related Trauma #Child Abuse and Trauma #Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
paper · doi:10.1038/s44220-026-00677-7
openalex publication_date 2026/07/03 · openalex created_date 2026/07/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Abstract Research and clinical practice on childhood maltreatment largely rely on retrospective self-reports. However, self-reports are often considered unreliable due to concerns about memory biases and shifting subjective appraisals. Here, in a meta-analysis of 49 studies including n = 38,332 individuals followed for an average of 2.4 years (range = 2 months to 12 years), we found that retrospective self-reports of maltreatment are overall highly stable ( r = 0.79). However, stability was lower in population-representative samples than in clinical or convenience samples, for neglect compared with abuse, and in children compared with adults. In children, but not adults, stability declined with longer follow-up. These findings challenge the view that retrospective self-reports are inherently unstable, although further research is needed to investigate long-term stability. Reshaping trauma-related appraisals may require deliberate intervention and might be most effective during childhood when memories appear more malleable.