Correlation between childhood trauma experience and depressive symptoms among young adults: The potential mediating role of loneliness

Abstract

Background: It is widely recognized that childhood trauma poses a significant risk of developing depressive symptoms. However, the underlying mediation mechanism between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms requires further exploration.

Objective: This study focuses on exploring whether loneliness may act as a potential mediator between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms.

Participants and setting: We analyzed a large sample of college students (N = 7293). Participants completed online questionnaires in the WeChat group.

Methods: Childhood trauma, depressive symptoms, and loneliness were evaluated using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS) respectively. The linear regression method was applied to explore the mediating role.

Results: Gender, relationship with family, and left-behind experience are all substantial depressive symptoms risk factors. Childhood trauma was shown to be highly related to depressive symptoms, and this relationship was potentially mediated by loneliness.

Conclusions: Our research indicates that treating loneliness in those who have undergone childhood trauma may help prevent or treat depressive symptoms. Therefore, loneliness should be taken into consideration while treating and preventing depressive symptoms.

Keywords: Childhood trauma; Depressive symptoms; Loneliness; Mediation analysis.