Article Figures & Tables
Tables
- Table 1:
Sociodemographic variables by child abuse status in a sample of Canadian public safety personnel
Variable Status; no. (%) of respondents*† OR (95% CI) No child abuse
n = 1924Child abuse
n = 2275Sex Male 1222 (45.1) 1490 (54.9) 1.00 Female 570 (42.3) 778 (57.7) 1.12 (0.98–1.3) Age, yr, mean ± SD 41.7 ± 9.3 44.5 ± 8.9 1.04 (1.0–1.0) Marital status Married/common-law/remarried 1453 (45.5) 1741 (54.4) 1.00 Single 181 (44.1) 229 (55.9) 1.06 (0.9–1.3) Separated/divorced/widowed 151 (34.2) 290 (65.8) 1.60 (1.3–2.0) Region of residence Western Canada‡ and territories 962 (43.5) 1249 (56.5) 1.00 Eastern Canada§ 580 (42.4) 787 (57.6) 1.05 (0.9–1.2) Atlantic Canada¶ 239 (51.6) 224 (48.4) 0.72 (0.6–0.9) Ethnicity White 1671 (45.0) 2039 (55.0) 1.00 Other 112 (34.6) 212 (65.4) 1.55 (1.2–2.0) Education Some postsecondary or less 1038 (41.8) 1444 (58.2) 1.00 University degree/4 yr of college or higher 714 (48.0) 774 (52.0) 0.78 (0.7–0.9) Years of service, mean ± SD 16.6 ± 9.4 18.6 ± 9.3 1.02 (1.0–1.0) Public safety personnel category Municipal/provincial police 497 (45.6) 594 (54.4) 1.00 Royal Canadian Mounted Police 480 (46.7) 547 (53.3) 0.95 (0.8–1.1) Correctional workers 234 (40.6) 343 (59.4) 1.23 (1.0–1.5) Firefighters 279 (45.1) 340 (54.9) 1.02 (0.8–1.2) Paramedics 218 (39.6) 332 (60.4) 1.27 (1.0–1.6) Call centre operators/dispatchers 90 (43.1) 119 (56.9) 1.11 (0.8–1.5) Note: CI = confidence interval, OR = odds ratio, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Except where noted otherwise.
↵† Denominators vary as not all respondents answered all questions.
↵‡ British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
↵§ Ontario and Quebec.
↵¶ New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Table 2:
Prevalence of child abuse and career-related trauma by public safety personnel category
Type of abuse/trauma Category; no. (%) of respondents* Significant differences† Total
n = 4073Municipal/provincial police (a)
n = 1091Royal Canadian Mounted Police (b)
n = 1027Correctional workers (c)
n = 577Firefighters (d)
n = 619Paramedics (e)
n = 550Call center operators/dispatchers (f)
n = 209Slapped on face, head or ears, or hit or spanked with something hard 1880 (46.0) 482 (44.2) 440 (42.6) 280 (48.5) 305 (48.9) 278 (50.0) 95 (45.5) a < e
b < c, d, ePushed, grabbed or shoved, or something thrown at him/her 831 (20.4) 205 (18.9) 198 (19.3) 144 (25.0) 121 (19.4) 104 (18.7) 59 (28.8) a < c, f
b < c, f
d < c, f
e < c, fKicked, bit, punched, choked, burned or attacked 546 (13.2) 127 (11.5) 124 (11.8) 91 (15.7) 85 (13.3) 86 (15.2) 33 (15.4) a < c, e
b < cAny physical abuse 2018 (49.4) 523 (47.9) 477 (46.3) 296 (51.2) 326 (52.4) 295 (53.2) 101 (48.6) a < e
b < d, eSexual abuse 583 (14.1) 139 (12.7) 129 (12.3) 132 (22.8) 47 (7.4) 86 (15.2) 50 (23.8) a < c, f
b < c, f
d < a, b, c, e, f
e < f, cExposure to intimate partner violence 368 (8.9) 94 (8.5) 94 (9.0) 62 (10.6) 45 (7.0) 48 (8.5) 25 (11.7) d < c, f Any child abuse 2275 (55.9) 594 (54.4) 547 (53.3) 343 (59.4) 340 (54.9) 332 (60.4) 119 (56.9) a < c, e
b < c, eNo. of types of child abuse 0 1798 (44.7) 497 (46.4) 480 (47.1) 234 (41.3) 279 (45.7) 218 (40.1) 90 (43.9) c < a, b
e < a, b1 1622 (40.4) 436 (40.7) 408 (40.0) 209 (36.9) 261 (42.8) 236 (43.4) 72 (35.1) c < d, e
f < e≥ 2 598 (14.9) 139 (13.0) 132 (12.9) 124 (21.9) 70 (11.5) 90 (16.5) 43 (21.0) a < c, f
b < c, f
d < c, e, f
e < cAny career-related trauma 3947 (94.0) 95.2 (1061) 1016 (95.9) 502 (84.9) 614 (94.8) 557 (97.2) 197 (92.1) c < a, b, d, e, f
d < e
f < b, e Type of abuse Suicidal ideation Suicide plans Suicide attempt(s) No. (%) of respondents Adjusted OR* (95% CI) No. (%) of respondents Adjusted OR* (95% CI) No. (%) of respondents Adjusted OR* (95% CI) Slapped on face, head or ears, or hit or spanked with something hard 642 (37.0) 2.09 (1.8–2.4) 335 (19.7) 2.41 (2.0–3.0) 118 (6.9) 2.47 (1.8–3.4) Pushed, grabbed or shoved, or something thrown at him/her 336 (44.0) 2.32 (1.9–2.8) 183 (24.4) 2.42 (2.0–3.0) 73 (9.8) 2.96 (2.1–4.1) Kicked, bit, punched, choked, burned or attacked 227 (45.0) 2.14 (1.7–2.6) 131 (26.4) 2.42 (1.9–3.1) 52 (10.5) 2.78 (1.9–4.0) Physical abuse 681 (36.5) 2.12 (1.8–2.5) 351 (19.1) 2.34 (1.9–2.9) 125 (6.8) 2.64 (1.9–3.7) Sexual abuse 234 (42.5) 2.12 (1.7–2.6) 125 (23.2) 2.06 (1.6–2.7) 58 (10.6) 2.38 (1.6–3.4) Exposure to intimate partner violence 161 (48.2) 2.63 (2.1–3.4) 85 (25.9) 2.48 (1.9–3.3) 40 (12.2) 3.25 (2.2–4.9) Any child abuse 749 (35.6) 2.22 (1.9–2.6) 383 (18.5) 2.49 (2.0–3.1) 136 (6. 5) 2.61 (1.8–3.8) Note: CI = confidence interval, OR = odds ratio.
↵* Adjusted for sex, age, marital status, region of residence, ethnicity, education, years of service and public safety personnel category.
- Table 4:
Individual and cumulative effects of a history of child abuse and career-related trauma on lifetime suicidal behaviours
Abuse/trauma category*† Suicidal ideation Suicide plans Suicide attempt(s) No. (%) of respondents Adjusted OR‡ (95% CI) No. (%) of respondents Adjusted OR‡ (95% CI) No. (%) of respondents Adjusted OR‡ (95% CI) No child abuse/career-related trauma 16 (12.7) 1.00 NP 1.00 NP 1.00 Child abuse only 31 (31.6) 3.33§ (1.6–6.8) 16 (16.5) 5.89§ (1.9–18.5) NP 3.98§ (1.0–15.5) Career-related trauma only 322 (20.8) 1.84¶ (1.0–3.3) 136 (8.9) 3.00¶ (1.1–8.4) 40 (2.6) 1.51¶ (0.4–5.1) Child abuse and career-related trauma 718 (35.8) 3.97§ (2.3–7.0) 367 (18.6) 7.12§ (2.6–19.7) 127 (6.4) 3.80§ (1.2–12.5) Note: CI = confidence interval, NP = not presented because of insufficient sample size (i.e., n < 10), OR = odds ratio.
↵* Mutually exclusive categories.
↵† Logistic regression was used to test for statistically significant differences between the 4-level child abuse/career-related trauma variable. Symbols indicate significant differences between categories at p < 0.05.
↵‡ Adjusted for sex, age, marital status, region of residence, ethnicity, education, years of service and public safety personnel category.
↵§ The relation between child abuse only and suicidal behaviours was not significantly different from the relation between both child abuse and career-related trauma and suicidal behaviours.
↵¶ The relation between career-related trauma only and suicidal behaviours was significantly different from the relation between child abuse only and suicidal behavours and both child abuse and career-related trauma and suicidal behaviours.
- Table 5:
Individual and interaction effects of a history of child abuse and career-related trauma on lifetime suicide-related behaviours
Model Adjusted OR* (95% CI) Suicidal ideation Suicide plans Suicide attempt(s) 1. Career-related trauma 1.57 (1.1–2.2) 1.78 (1.1–2.9) 1.22 (0.6–2.3) 2. Child abuse 2.22 (1.9–2.6) 2.49 (2.0–3.1) 2.61 (1.8–3.8) 3. Career-related trauma 1.43 (0.99–2.1) 1.59 (0.97–2.6) 1.10 (0.6–2.1) Child abuse 2.21 (1.9–2.6) 2.47 (2.0–3.1) 2.60 (1.8–3.8) 4. Career-related trauma × child abuse 0.65 (0.3–1.3) 0.40 (0.1–1.3) 0.63 (0.2–2.6) Note: CI = confidence interval, OR = odds ratio.
↵* Models 1 and 2: adjusted for sex, age, marital status, region of residence, ethnicity, education, years of service and public safety personnel category; model 3: adjusted for the same variables as in models 1 and 2 with the addition of career-related trauma and child abuse in the same model; model 4: adjusted for the same variables as in model 3 with the main effects of career-related trauma and child abuse in addition to the interaction term for career-related trauma × child abuse.