Objective: this study examines the impact of childhood abuse differentiated by type and severity on the emergence of the current problem of substance dependents with consideration to gender difference.Subjects: two groups of Egyptian subjects of both sexes aged 18-30 were compared in the study: 30 substance dependence hospitalized patients and 30 healthy subjects as control. Method: members of the two groups were subjected to full psychiatric examination, using a semi-structured interview and early trauma inventory (ETI) was used to assess childhood sexual, physical, emotional abuse and total abuse scores in both groups.Results: substance dependent patients showed statistically significant higher scores of all abuse domains, differences were highly significant for sexual abuse in females and for physical abuse in males.Conclusion: There is an association between all types of abuse in childhood and the development of drug dependence in young adults in both sexes. This association is stronger for sexual abuse in females and for physical abuse in males.