Self-esteem mediates child abuse predicting adulthood anxiety, depression, and substance use symptoms 18 years later.
J Affect Disord
; 365: 542-552, 2024 Nov 15.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39178955
ABSTRACT
According to biopsychosocial models, experiencing parental child abuse increases susceptibility to adulthood psychopathology. However, there is a paucity of studies examining potential mechanisms of the parental child abuse and adulthood psychopathology relationship. The purpose of the current study was to determine if Time 2 (T2) trait self-esteem mediated levels of Time 1 (T1) retrospectively recalled parental child abuse predicting (T3) past-year major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), alcohol use disorder (AUD), and substance use disorder (SUD) symptoms. The 18-year Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study included participants (N = 3294; T1 average age of 45.62 years) assessed at three different time points, each spaced about nine years apart. We performed structural equation mediation modeling analyses to determine how maternal and paternal child abuse at T1 would independently predict T3 MDD, GAD, PD, AUD, and SUD symptoms. We also examined whether T2 self-esteem mediated these relations while controlling for adulthood T1 psychopathology symptoms, demographics, socioeconomic status, somatic symptoms, and parental psychopathology. Consistent with our hypotheses, higher T1 maternal and paternal abuse predicted increased T3 GAD, PD, AUD, and SUD symptoms via diminished T2 self-esteem as the mediator (% proportion mediated = 33.0-100). However, childhood paternal, but not maternal, abuse predicted adulthood MDD symptoms via reduced self-esteem. Findings remained after adjusting for covariates. Our research highlights the importance of understanding retrospectively recalled parental child abuse-adulthood psychopathology relations, their potential mechanisms, and self-esteem as a malleable treatment target for adults with heightened child abuse.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Trastornos de Ansiedad
/
Autoimagen
/
Trastornos Relacionados con Sustancias
/
Trastorno Depresivo Mayor
Límite:
Adult
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Affect Disord
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos
Pais de publicación:
Países Bajos