Status of childhood abuse and mental health in college students with left-behind experience / 中华疾病控制杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the mediating role of mental resilience between childhood abuse and mental health of college students with left-behind experience, so as to provide reference for the improvement of their mental health level of. Methods 350 college students with left-behind experience and 297 college students who did not have such experience were recruited in some science and technology college in Anhui province and assessed with Childhood Abuse Questionnaire (CTQ-SF), the Chinese Mental Resilience Scale (CMRS) and Symptom Check List 90(SCL-90). Correlation analysis and mediation effect analysis were conducted with the collected data. Results The level of childhood abuse of college students with left-behind experience was higher than that of college students without left-behind experience (Z=-2.696，P=0.007), and the level of psychological resilience was lower than that of college students without left-behind experience (Z=-3.267，P=0.001).The scores of the Chinese Mental Resilience Scale, Childhood Abuse Questionnaire and Symptom Check List were negatively correlated(r=-0.279, P<0.001, r=-0.247, P<0.001). The scores of Childhood Abuse Questionnaire and Symptom Check List 90 were positively correlated(r= 0.280, P<0.001 ). The direct effect of childhood abuse on mental health problems was 0.247 and the mediation effect of resilience in total effect was 19.02%. Conclusions Resilience is a partial mediator between the relation of childhood abuse and mental health. Therefore, intervention activities can be carried out for the college students who have experienced left-behind childhood abuse to improve their overall mental health level.