Unique and combined contributions of multiple child abuse types and abuse severity to adult trauma symptomatology

Studies have documented the co-occurrence and cumulative impact of multiple types of child maltreatment on later psychosocial diffi-culties. Other research suggests that child abuse characteristics indic-ative of severity may also increase risk of later adjustment problems. However, little effort has been made to examine the co-occurrence of both multiple types of maltreatment and abuse severity within a single study. The present investigation examines self-reported child maltreatment and adult functioning in a geographically diverse sam-ple of 1,396 undergraduate students. Results indicate that experienc-ing multiple types of maltreatment is positively associated with more severe abuse. Although increased maltreatment types and more se-vere abuse are each associated with greater trauma symptomatology, abuse severity is the stronger of the two predictors. Finally, number of maltreatment types and severity of maltreatment interact to predic