Linking childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms: identity, shame, and age effects

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2024-04, Vol.43 (13), p.11904-11913
• Main Authors: Labonté, Laura E., Kealy, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child abuse & neglect; Psychology; Questionnaires; Social Sciences; Young adults
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-05274-w

Background While important links have been described between childhood abuse and propensity to develop depressive disorders in adult life, less is known about mechanisms, such as identity and shame, that may contribute to this relationship and the effects of age. Objective We examined the association between perceived childhood abuse and depressive symptoms––with age as a potential moderating variable––and including dysfunctional identity and shame as mediators of this relation. Methods This cross-sectional correlational study recruited 393 participants through the Prolific Academic platform. Average age was 34.26 ( SD  = 12.67; range = 18–75); 69.5% identified as women, 29% as men, and 1.3% as non-binary gender. Validated scales assessed childhood abuse history (abuse subscale of the Measure of Parental Style), identity dysfunction (self-Concept and Identity Measure), shame (abbreviated version of the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2) and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-8). Linear regression was used to examine moderation effects, and conditional process modelling, combining moderation with parallel mediation effects. Results Age moderated the childhood abuse-depressive symptom relationship F (3, 389) = 28.595, R 2  = .181, p