Relationship between emotional trauma and depression of college students: mediating effect of distress tolerance and rumination / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the relationship between emotional trauma and depressive symptoms.Methods:In November 2021, a total of 1 650 university students were assessed using scales including childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ), distress tolerance scale (DTS), rumination response scale (RRS) and the depression anxiety stress scale (DASS). SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 25.0 software were used to analyze the data with Spearman correlation analysis, Mann-Whitney U test and mediation analysis. Results:The differences of DTS, RRS and DASS were significant between high and low trauma group(all P<0.01). Emotional trauma (16.70(6.09)) was negatively correlated with distress tolerance(10.95(2.15)) ( r=-0.26, P<0.01), and positively correlated with rumination(39.51(10.74)) and depression(4.93(5.76)) ( r=0.31, 0.38, both P<0.01). The testing of mediating effect indicated that emotional trauma had direct effect ( β=0.20, P<0.001) and indirect effect on depression through distress tolerance and rumination. Conclusion:Emotional trauma, distress tolerance and rumination are important factors influencing depression, and it could provide guidance for undergraduate psychological intervention of depression.