The aim of the current dissertation is three-fold. First, we aimed to provide insight with regard to the alterations of traumatized youths’ neurobiological stress systems (PART I). We investigated sympathetic, parasympathetic, and HPA axis parameters among traumatized adolescents in residential care and a nontraumatized comparison sample. Both basal activity during rest and reactivity to acute social stress were evaluated. The outcomes of this study are described in Chapter 2.

Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death, and rates of attempted suicide have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The under-diagnosed psychiatric phenotype of dissociation is associated with elevated suicidal self-injury; however, it has largely been left out of attempts to predict and prevent suicide.

Objective: We designed an artificial intelligence approach to identify dissociative patients and predict prior suicide attempts in an unbiased, data-driven manner.

Although partner alcohol use and acceptance of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) are critical determinants of IPVAW, little is known about their interaction. We explored how partner alcohol use and attitudes toward IPVAW act independently and jointly at the individual and community levels to influence women’s reports of experiencing IPVAW across low- and middle-income countries.

Background:
Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) is a proposed childhood psychiatric diagnosis for psychopathological and developmental sequela of victimization and attachment trauma extending beyond posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Objective:
To determine whether a sub-group of trauma-impacted children is characterized by symptoms of DTD that extend beyond, or co-occur with, the symptoms of PTSD.