The importance of retrospective findings in child maltreatment research

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Abstract
Comments on an article by Dube et al (see record 2004-17031-003). Dube and her colleagues from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study say that retrospective findings are trustworthy. The ACE study is a large epidemiological study that examines the health impact of adverse childhood events on the health of adults in an HMO population. In the current study, they used data from 658 participants who completed the ACE study on two separate occasions, approximately a year apart. They found some mild differences in the two reports, but overall retrospective reports of adverse childhood events were stable over time. For child maltreatment researchers, the reliability of retrospective findings is no mere methodological quibble. Much of what we know about the long-term effects of childhood abuse comes from retrospective studies. But what about the prospective findings? Depending on the research question, prospective studies can provide a number of significant advantages over retrospective designs. Researchers often consider prospective designs to be more rigorous, with less biased sample selection and better measurement of the natural history of a phenomenon. Given the strengths of prospective data, does this mean that we should now disregard findings from retrospective studies? Not necessarily.
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