Background Childhood trauma (CT) is considered as a highly risk factor for depression. Although the pathway of CT to depression, especially the mediating or moderating effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) or neuroticism, have investigated by several studies, the results were inconsistent and there is a paucity of full models among these interactive factors. This study aims to examine the relationships among CT, adaptive / maladaptive CERS, neuroticism, and current depression symptoms in university students. Methods We recruited 3009 freshman of 2019, aged averagely 18.00 (SD = 0.772) years, from universities in Hunan province in 2019. A moderated mediation model was built to examine the relationships among CT, CERS, neuroticism, and current depression using the SPSS PROCESS 3.5 macro. We conducted bootstrapping of regression estimates with 5000 samples and 95% confidence interval. Results Results revealed that the significant mediating effects of adaptive CERS (β = 0.012; 95% CI: 0.006 to 0.018) and maladaptive CERS (β = 0.028; 95% CI: 0.016 to 0.040) between CT and depression were observed, accounting for 5.69% and 13.52% of the total effect respectively. Then, moderated mediation analyses results showed that neuroticism simultaneously moderated the direct effect of CT on current depression (β = 0.035; 95% CI: 0.001 to 0.009), and the indirect effects of CT on current depression through adaptive CERS (adaptive CERS – current depression: β = − 0.034; 95% CI: − 0.007 to − 0.001) and maladaptive CERS (maladaptive CERS – current depression: β = 0.157; 95% CI: 0.017 to 0.025). However, the moderating effects of neuroticism in the indirect paths from CT to adaptive CERS (β = 0.037; 95% CI: 0.000 to 0.014) and maladaptive CERS (β = − 0.001; 95% CI: − 0.006 to 0.005) were not significant. Conclusions This study provides powerful evidences through a large university students sample for the mediating role of adaptive / maladaptive CERS and the moderating role of neuroticism between CT and current depression. This manifests that cognitive emotion regulation may be a vital factor for people who suffered from CT and current depression. Furthermore, the influence of neuroticism in this process cannot be ignored.

Background: Committed action is one of the core processes of psychological flexibility derived from acceptance and commitment therapy. It has not been widely investigated in mainland China as appropriate measures are lacking. The current study aimed to validate a Chinese (Mandarin) version of the Committed Action Questionnaire (CAQ-8) in a non-clinical college sample and to explore whether committed action would have a mediating effect in the association between experiential avoidance (EA) and life satisfaction.Methods: We translated the CAQ-8 into Chinese (Mandarin). A total of 913 Chinese undergraduates completed a set of questionnaires measuring committed action, EA, mindful awareness, anxiety, depression, stress, and life satisfaction. For test–retest reliability, 167 respondents completed the CAQ-8 again 4 weeks later.Results: The entire scale of CAQ-8 (Mandarin) and two subscales showed adequate internal consistency and acceptable test–retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor structure and the convergent and criterion validity were acceptable. Committed action was correlated with less EA, more mindful awareness, less depressive symptoms, less anxiety, less stress, and more life satisfaction. In bootstrap mediation analyses, committed action partially mediated the association between EA and life satisfaction.Conclusion: The results suggest that the CAQ-8 (Mandarin) is a brief, psychometrically sound instrument to investigate committed action in Chinese populations, and the relationship between EA and life satisfaction was partially explained by committed action. This study provides new information about the usefulness of CAQ-8 and supports the assumption that committed action may be considered a promising factors for improving life satisfaction who have involved in EA among an educated non-clinical population.

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