Methods: Data from 300 mothers were collected during a face to face interview as part of a longitudinal research study.  The study used the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to gather information about childhood abuse/ neglect including physical, sexual or emotional abuse and physical or emotional neglect.  Using the recommended cut-off scores for the CTQ, the five domains of abuse/neglect were coded 0 for scores below the recommended cut-offs and 1 for those above.  Scores were used to create three groups: no abuse(0  abuse/neglect domains)(n=136), light abuse/neglect (1 or 2 domains)(n=88) and heavy abuse/neglect (3, 4 or 5 domains)(n=76). Group means were compared on  the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS)

Results: Comparison of means showed significant differences between all groups on the BSI subscales of depression, anxiety, and hostility and the ASI drug use scale.  The heavy abuse/neglect group showed most severe problems and the no abuse group the least.  The heavy abuse/neglect group was significantly different from both the no abuse/neglect and light abuse/neglect group on the BSI’s phobic anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and interpersonal sensitivity subscales,  and the ASI’s  alcohol use and medical problems scales and on two scales of the Conflict Tactics Scale.

Implications for practice: Childhood trauma is part of the clinical picture for over half of the mothers in this community sample and especially for mothers with problems of alcohol and drug use and psychiatric problems.  Issues of childhood abuse/neglect should be included in routine history-taking with mothers to provide a comprehensive assessment and treatment approach.