One issue is that maltreatments commonly co-occur (Gilbert et al. 2009b). Thus, studying each type of maltreatment separately could lead to undetected confounding by the others. Understanding the independent association of each specific type of maltreatment with alcohol dependence requires adjustment for co-occuring maltreatments. Previous reports on maltreatment and alcohol dependence adjusted for one or a few other childhood adverse experiences (Kessler et al. 1997), but none controlled for them all, leaving the specific relationship of each type of childhood maltreatment to alcohol dependence unknown. A large sample and complete assessment of all five types of childhood maltreatment are needed for this type of statistical control.
