The effect of childhood trauma on depressive symptoms in college freshmen: the mediating role of alexithymia and the moderating role of life events / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the mediating effect of alexithymia and moderating effect of life events in the relationship between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was designed to investigate 2 592 freshmen in Southern Medical University by using a series of questionnaires, including the childhood trauma questionnaire(CTQ), Toronto alexithymia scale(TAS), adolescent self-rating life events checklist(ASLEC), Chinese version of Beck depression inventory-Ⅱ(BDI-Ⅱ). The mediating effect of alexithymia and the moderating effect of life events were examined using SPSS 19.0 macro program PROCESS 2.13.Results:(1) The prevalences of depressive symptoms and childhood trauma were 11.34% and 14.80% in college students.(2) The total score of CTQ (34.25±8.01) was significantly positively correlated with the total score of TAS (48.82±10.72) ( r=0.38, P<0.01), the total score of ASLEC (36.91±9.74) was significantly positively correlated with the score of BDI-Ⅱ 3.00(6.00) ( r=0.53, P<0.01), and the total score of TAS was significantly positively correlated with the score of BDI-Ⅱ ( r=0.49, P<0.01). (3) Alexithymia mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms.The direct effect (effects size=0.25) and the mediating effect (effects size=0.12) accounted for 67.57% and 32.43% of the total effect (effects size=0.37), respectively.(4) Health adaptation, punishment and learning pressure events moderated the path between alexithymia and depressive symptoms. Conclusion:Childhood trauma affects depressive symptoms through the mediating role of alexithymia and the moderating role of life events in freshmen.