The association between adverse childhood experiences and quality of partnership in adult women

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) have a significant effect on psychological and physical child development and represent a risk factor for interpersonal difficulties. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the association between ACE, in particular physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect, and partnership quality during adulthood in women. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This study is a secondary analysis of a retrospective multi-center study evaluating risk factors and quality of life in women with and without endometriosis, a chronic, disabling gynecological disease. The investigation includes 533 consenting adult women (159 with ACE and 374 women without) recruited from various hospitals in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. METHODS: To evaluate the association between ACE and partnership, a questionnaire including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and a validated partnership questionnaire were used. RESULTS: Altogether, 29.8 % (N = 159) women experienced maltreatment in childhood, 9.7 % (N = 52) of them more than one type. Women who went through ACE showed a lower level of happiness (P = 0.013) and of quality of partnership (P = 0.001) as well as a higher number of conflict areas (P < 0.001). Emotional (P = 0.03; 95 % CI=-1.27,-0.070) and sexual abuse (P = 0.01; 95 % CI=-1.765,-0.197) had the strongest association with reduced partnership quality. CONCLUSION: Our study showed a significant association between ACE, in particular sexual and emotional abuse, and reduced partnership quality. As the quality of partnership is a key factor in the quality of life, improvement in social support with a special focus on intimate relationships should be part of the strategy to address the consequences of ACE already during childhood/adolescence.