The Relationship Between Childhood Trauma And Depressive Symptoms In Chinese Children

Objective: We conducted this study to investigate the current situation of childhood trauma and depressive symptoms among adolescents in Wuhan city and explore the association among childhood trauma,resilience and depressive symptoms,so as to provide scientific basis for the prevention and intervention of adolescent depression.Methods: Totally 6404 students were chosen by cluster sampling from five primary schools,three middle schools and two high schools in Wuhan.The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire(CTQ)was used to evaluate childhood trauma experience,the ConnorDavidson Resilience Scale(CD-RISC)and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale(CES-D)was used to assess resilience level and depressive symptoms.EpiData 3.1 was used to establish database and input data,and the SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 17.0 software packages were used for data analysis.Descriptive analysis,Chi-square test,t-test,analysis of variance and logistic regression analysis were used.Results: A total of 6721 students were investigated and 6406 valid samples were included in data analysis,the response rate was 95.3%.Among the 6406 students,3308 were males,3098 were females,2628 in primary school,3057 in middle school and 721 in high school,respectively.1.Adolescent depressive symptoms: The detection rate of depressive symptoms was 16.3%.Older age,female,higher grade,lower monthly income per person and family history of depression were associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms(P<0.05).There were no significant parents’ education differences in the detection rates of depressive symptoms.2.Childhood trauma: The detection rate of childhood trauma was 32.8%.Male,middle school students,lower monthly income per person,lower levels of parents’ education and family history of depression were associated with increased risk of depressive childhood trauma(P<0.05).There were no significant age differences in the detection sample was 62.97 ± 18.72.Lower age,male,lower grade,higher monthly income per person,without a family history of depression and higher levels of parents’ education were associated with higher levels of resilience(P<0.05).4.The relationship among childhood trauma,resilience and depressive symptoms: The subjects with experience of childhood trauma showed higher CES-D scores and lower CD-RISC scores compared with those without experience of childhood trauma(P<0.001).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the experience of childhood trauma was risk factor for depressive symptoms and resilience was protective factor for depressive symptoms.5.Mediating effect: Resilience played a partially mediating role in the relationship between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms,and the mediating effect made up 10.2% of the total effect.6.Moderating effect: Resilience moderated the association of childhood trauma with depressive symptoms.Conclusions: Childhood trauma and depressive symptoms had a higher prevalence in adolescence,and there were differences between gender,grade and family-related factors.Childhood trauma was positively associated with depressive symptoms,and resilience played an important role in the relationship between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms.Our results suggest that enhancing resilience may provide new possibilities for the prevention and intervention of depression in adolescents.