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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Affective Disorder | Research article

Associations between childhood maltreatment and adult depression: a mediation analysis

Authors: Anne Klumparendt, Janna Nelson, Jens Barenbrügge, Thomas Ehring

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2019

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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.
Footnotes
1
Of note, informed consent was asked both at the beginning and at the end of the survey. Consequently, dropouts due to discontinuance cannot be analyzed.
 
2
Within the remaining cases, the percentage of missing items indicative for the CTQ was very low (0.48%). The highest percentage of missings (0.65%) was found among the indicator items of the subscale emotional neglect.
 
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Metadata
Title
Associations between childhood maltreatment and adult depression: a mediation analysis
Authors
Anne Klumparendt
Janna Nelson
Jens Barenbrügge
Thomas Ehring
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2016-8

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