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. 2019 Jan 22;19(1):36.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-019-2016-8.

Associations between childhood maltreatment and adult depression: a mediation analysis

Anne Klumparendt  1   2 , Janna Nelson  3   4 , Jens Barenbrügge  3 , Thomas Ehring  5
Affiliations

Associations between childhood maltreatment and adult depression: a mediation analysis

Anne Klumparendt et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: There is ample evidence showing that childhood maltreatment (CM) is a risk factor for the development of depression in adulthood. However, little is known about the psychological processes mediating this relationship. This study used a large community sample to investigate the mediating role of emotional, cognitive and/or interpersonal dysfunctions on the one hand and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms on the other hand.

Methods: One thousand twenty seven participants of a community sample filled out an online survey. Mediation analyses were computed via linear structural equation modelling.

Results: Results showed a significant mediation of the association between CM and adult depression via emotional impairments, depressogenic attribution style and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Our study design was cross-sectional and therefore did not allow testing temporal precedence of mediators and causality. Data was collected retrospectively, a confounding effect of current depressive symptoms on retrospective recall of CM therefore cannot be ruled out.

Conclusions: The a priori mediation model showed a good fit with the data. The model suggests promising objectives for further research on CM-related depression and potential treatment targets in the future.

Keywords: Childhood Maltreatment; Depression; Psychological Mediators; Risk Factor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Consent for analyses and research publication was obtained electronically from every participant both at the beginning and at the end of the survey through a corresponding item. If consent was not given, the dataset was excluded. Ethical approval was given by the Rectorate Commission for Research Affairs committee of the University of Münster.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Postulated Mediational Path Model. For reasons of clarity and comprehensibility, this is only a simplified version of the calculated model. Measurement models of the latent constructs and also residual correlations are not displayed. ER = emotion regulation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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