Impact of childhood trauma on early-adulthood depression and its mediating mechanism: a 4-year longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of childhood trauma on early-adulthood depression and the mediating roles of neuroticism, negative self-description, fancy, life-events, social support and resilience in the process based on a vulnerability stress model through a 4-year longitudinal study. Methods In October 2016 (T1), a total of 510 freshmen from a university were recruited and surveyed with Beck depression inventory (BDI-Ⅱ), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-28 item Short Form (CTQ-SF), Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ), Self-description Task (SDT), Coping Style Questionnaire (CSQ), Adolescent Self-rating Life Events Checklist (ASLEC), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Then in October 2019 (T4), 433 of them were assessed with BDI -Ⅱ, ASLEC, SSRS and CD-RISC. Structural equation model was used to analyze the potential mediating mechanism of childhood trauma on depression. Results ① Childhood trauma was positively correlated with depression at T1 and T4 (r=0.27, 0.15, P < 0.01). ②Stepwise regression analysis showed that childhood trauma, neuroticism, negative self-description, fancy, life-events, and resilience could predict early-adulthood depression, and explained 53% of depression at T1. ③Structural equation modeling indicated that childhood trauma positively predicted early-adulthood depression, and neuroticism, negative self-description, fancy, life-events and resilience partially exerted mediating roles (effect value=0.25, P < 0.01). ④Instant model further suggested that childhood trauma had a direct impact on T1 depression (effect value=0.09, P < 0.05), and exerted immediate mediating effects through resilience, life-events and social support (effect value=0.13, P < 0.01). What's more, childhood trauma also showed delayed mediating effects on T4 depression through above mentioned variables at T1 and T4 (effect value=0.14, P < 0.01). Conclusion Childhood trauma can positively predict early-adulthood depression, and neuroticism, negative self-description, fancy, life-events, and resilience show mediating effects between childhood trauma and depression. And resilience, life-events, and social support exert immediate and delayed mediating roles between them.

Keywords

• childhood trauma
• depression
• early-adulthood