Childhood trauma and current depression among Chinese university students: a moderated mediation model of cognitive emotion regulation strategies and neuroticism

Abstract

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.

The Effect of Child Trauma on the Relation between Psychological Well-Being and Depressive Symptoms in Chilean University Students

“…It is very likely that, due to immaturity, they fail to resolve these adverse situations or resolve them at a high emotional cost, which leads to the development of a diminished and questioned self-image; this damage to the self can become a secondary stressor that affects development and threatens well-being in adulthood [ 45 ]. Reasons why this effect of early adverse experiences is said to be direct in early adulthood: research with university students has shown that this population has a special cognitive vulnerability; they would have a deficit in their cognitive emotional regulation strategies, which can moderate the impact of early trauma on a current depression [ 18 ].…”

“…Interestingly, particularly in young adulthood (18 to 23 years old), an increase in these trauma-associated depressive symptoms has been observed; its effect is considered direct at this age before later stages of adulthood in which various stressors may interfere ([ 16 ]). Furthermore, the literature describes the mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in this relationship, particularly in university students ([ 17 , 18 ]).…”

Childhood trauma and depressive level among non-clinical Chinese college students: the roles of rumination and perceived stress

“…In college students, previous studies (Tao et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2020) indicated that childhood trauma is correlated with the risk of depression, and some studies (Chu et al, 2022;Li et al, 2021;Mall et al, 2018) further found that childhood trauma could predict depression. For the mechanism of this effect, some studies (Hammen et al, 2000;Kendler et al, 2004;LeMoult et al, 2020) found that individuals who experienced trauma were more sensitive to future adversity or negative events, and thus, some minor events may also trigger their depressive reactions.…”

The relationship between childhood trauma and depressive symptom among Zhuang adolescents: Mediating and moderating effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategies

“…In this study, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were used to examine the childhood trauma, cognitive emotion regulation mechanisms, and depressive symptom of teenagers individually. Compared to earlier investigation on mediation analysis of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, in which they are derived for these two regulation strategies ( 34 ), We measured the Zhuang adolescents' experiences of childhood trauma using the widely established CTQ-SF scale; another research utilized the CTQ scale but evaluated it exclusively from the standpoint of emotional and physical abuse ( 35 ). Moreover, little research has sought to simultaneously analyze cognitive emotion regulation strategies' mediating and moderating effects on the relationship between depressive symptom and childhood trauma in Chinese Zhuang adolescents.…”