Childhood abuse and depression:the role of the positive mental characters for recruits as a mediator and moderator / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the mediating effect and moderating effect of positive mental characters in the relationship between childhood abuse and depression among recruits.Methods 1925 recruits aged from 16 ～24 were investigated using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-28 item Short Form (CTQ-SF),Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Positive Mental Characters Scale for Recruits (PMCS-R) through random cluster sampling.Results The scores of emotional abuse,physical abuse,sex abuse,emotional neglect,physical neglect,depression,positive mental characters were 6.11±1.69,5.49±1.32,5.61±1.45,9.15±3.66,9.57±2.93,0.45±0.11,3.80±0.64,respectively.There were correlations among childhood abuse,depression and positive mental characters (P＜0.05).Emotional neglect,physical neglect and emotional abuse could explain 28.6％ of the total variance of depression (F=256.72,P＜0.05).The positive mental characters partially mediated the relationship between emotional neglect,physical neglect,emotional abuse and depression (mediating effect were 0.19,0.15 and 0.09,respectively),and it could only moderate the relationship between emotional neglect and depression (F=24.73,P＜0.05).Conclusion Childhood abuse not only directly but also indirectly affects depression through the positive mental characters;meanwhile the positive mental characters can change the relationship between childhood abuse and depression.