Childhood Trauma and Suicide: The Mediating Effect of Stress and Sleep

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between suicide risk, perceived stress, and sleep quality through a structural equation modeling approach. This study used convenience sampling to survey 780 undergraduate and graduate students aged 18–30 years. Students were invited to participate in the online questionnaires, which included the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation, the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The results showed that suicide ideation and suicidal behavior were positively correlated with childhood trauma, stress, and sleep. A well-fitted structural equation model (χ2 = 1.52, df = 1, χ2/df = 1.52, RMSEA = 0.03, CFI = 1.00, NFI = 1.00) was constructed in this study. The hierarchical regression test showed significance in all the path coefficients of the model. The total effect of emotional abuse on suicide behaviors was 49.5%. The mediating effects accounted for 73.7% of the total effects of emotional abuse on suicidal behaviors. The results demonstrate efforts targeting stress and poor sleep might mitigate the risk of suicidal behaviors among individuals with early emotional abuse experiences.

Does sleep link child maltreatment to depressive symptoms among incoming first-year college students?

“…Measuring sleep patterns during participants’ first semester of college allowed us to assess how students responded to a “sleep challenge,” and whether CM played a role in their adjustment. Of note, associations among CM, sleep, and depressive symptoms were smaller than anticipated, which may be partially attributable to the lower rates of CM reported in our sample compared to those in previous studies [ 15 , 35 ].…”

Association between childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation among Chinese patients with chronic schizophrenia: the mediating role of insomnia

“…Consistent with previous studies in the general population and people with depression, 5,47 our study demonstrated a significant positive association between all subtypes of childhood maltreatment and increased suicide ideation. Notably, our study demonstrated that emotional abuse could be a crucial vulnerability to current suicide ideation, independent of the severity of psychiatric symptoms.…”

Childhood trauma and suicide risk in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia: the sequential mediating roles of pandemic related post-traumatic stress symptoms, sleep quality, and psychological distress

“…Further, childhood trauma was associated with increased suicidal risk in schizophrenia ( 8 , 29 ). There was supportive evidence that the association between childhood trauma and suicide was mediated by sleep quality, perceived stress, or hyperarousal symptoms ( 30 – 32 ).…”

“…The short-form version of the depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) was used to measure psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and stress in the last week. The DASS-21 subscales were divided into normal (0-7), mild (8)(9), moderate (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), severe (15-19), and extremely severe (>19) for anxiety; normal (0-9), mild (10)(11)(12)(13), moderate (14-20), severe (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27), and extremely severe (>27) for depression; and normal (0-14), mild (15-18), moderate (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), severe (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33), and extremely severe (>33) for stress (19). The Chinese version of the DASS-21 for the total scale demonstrated good internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.95 in the Chinese population (37).…”