RESUMO
Objective@#To understand the relationship between childhood abuse and uncertainty stress among college students and their interaction with depressive symptoms, so as to provide evidence for psychological intervention among college students.@*Methods@#A total of 1 830 college students from Xuzhou, Nanjing and Wuhan were selected by multistage stratified cluster random sampling method to conduct a questionnaire survey from March to May 2021 using Adverse Childhood Experience Scale, Uncertainty Stress Scale, and 10-Item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.@*Results@#Overall, 361 (19.73%), 507 (27.70%) and 607 (33.17%) college students had childhood abuse experiences, high uncertainty stress and depressive symptoms respectively. After controlling for confounding factors, multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of depressive symptoms in college students with childhood abuse experiences was 2.84 times higher than those without childhood abuse experiences ( OR= 2.84 , 95%CI =2.17-3.71). The risk of depressive symptoms among college students with high uncertainty stress was 7.88 times higher than those without high uncertainty stress ( OR=7.88, 95%CI =6.21-9.99). The results of interaction analysis showed that childhood abuse and uncertainty stress had no multiplication interaction but additive interaction on depressive symptoms of college students: RERI (95% CI )=12.73(3.24-22.23), AP (95% CI )=0.57(0.37-0.76), S (95% CI )=2.47(1.53-3.98).@*Conclusion@#High uncertainty stress and childhood abuse have additive interaction on depression symptoms of college students. Eliminating childhood abuse and scientific management of uncertainty stress can reduce the risk of depressive symptoms among college students.
RESUMO
Background: Childhood experiences can exert a huge impact on adult psychological conditions. Previous studies have confirmed the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) on psychological distress (e.g., stress, depression, and suicidal ideation) separately, but few studies explored a combined effect of ACEs and BCEs on psychological distress. The aim of this study was to explore a combined effect of ACEs and BCEs on psychological distress among Chinese undergraduates. Methods: Participants were undergraduates aged 17-24 years (N = 1,816) and completed a self-reported questionnaire. A series of regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between childhood experiences and psychological distress. Results: A total of 65.7% of undergraduates had BCEs, 27.1% of undergraduates had ACEs, and 12.9% of undergraduates had ACEs and BCEs simultaneously. Logistic regression analysis indicated that undergraduates who experienced high ACEs were more likely to have a high risk of psychological distress [odds ratio (ORs) = 1.46, 1.84, and 3.15 for uncertainty stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation, respectively], while undergraduates who experienced High BCEs were less likely to have psychological distress (ORs = 0.33, 0.22, and 0.32 for uncertainty stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation, respectively) compared with Low-Both group. The combined effect of ACEs and BCEs (High-Both group) could also play as a protective factor in uncertainty stress (OR = 0.56) and depressive symptoms (OR = 0.47). Conclusion: Our findings suggested that ACEs and BCEs could not only predict the psychological distress independently, but also BCEs could counteract the negative effect of ACEs in psychological problems. There is an even greater need to identify and support the victims of ACEs and to increase BCEs in early childhood.