Psychological Capital Mediating the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Alexithymia in Chinese Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Chang-Hong Zhang; Ge Li; Zhao-Ya Fan; Xiao-Jun Tang; Fan Zhang

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S288647

Psychological Capital Mediating the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Alexithymia in Chinese Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2020 Dec 31:13:1343-1352. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S288647. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Chang-Hong Zhang¹, Ge Li², Zhao-Ya Fan¹, Xiao-Jun Tang¹, Fan Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health and Management, Research Center for Medicine and Social Development, Collaborative Innovation Center of Social Risks Governance in Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, People's Republic of China.
² The Center of Experimental Teaching Management, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401331, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Purpose: A much higher prevalence of alexithymia has been found in medical students compared with the general population. This study aimed to test the potential mediating effect of psychological capital on the relationship between childhood trauma and alexithymia in Chinese medical students, thereby providing clues for future interventions aimed at dealing with alexithymia in this population.

Methods: Convenience cluster sampling was used to recruit 1200 medical students in Chongqing, China. This cross-sectional study utilised the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire. A structural equation model with maximum likelihood was used to study the mediating effect presented in the aim, and the significance of the mediating effect was examined by the bootstrap method. Multiple-group invariance analyses were also conducted to confirm the stability of the model.

Results: A total of 1018 were identified to have valid responses with a rate of 84.83%. 38.4% were males, 61.6% were females. The prevalence of alexithymia was 16.5%. Results of structural equation model showed that childhood trauma was positively related to alexithymia, with a standard path coefficient of 0.219 (C.R.=6.644, P<0.001). The partial mediating effect of psychological capital was 0.060 (P<0.001), accounting for 21.51% of the total effect of childhood trauma on alexithymia. Results of bootstrap method showed that the lower and upper bounds of the 95% confidence interval did not contain 0, and the multiple-group invariance analyses showed that the p values of the changes in the degrees of freedom and chi-square value were greater than 0.05, thus confirming the stability of the model.

Conclusion: Childhood trauma was a direct predictor of alexithymia among Chinese medical students, and the relationship between these two was partially mediated by psychological capital. Therefore, interventions aimed at enhancing psychological capital in this population may be effective at diminishing alexithymia.

Keywords: alexithymia; childhood trauma; interventions; mediating effect; medical students; psychological capital.

Grants and funding

Funding was provided by Chongqing Science and Technology Commission, grant number cstc2017jcyjAX0004.