Effects Of Childhood Abuse On College Students' Mental Health:The Mediating Effect Of Coping Style And Interpersonal Trust

BackgroundChildhood is a period that personality,psychology and mental state are constantly improved,and it plays a fundamental role in the healthy state of adulthood,College students mental health problems focus on an important role.Therefore,it is of great significance to explore the abuse of college students in childhood and psychological education of children and adults.Child abuse usually refers to the harm inflicted on children under the age of 16.The study selected a representative sample of college students.Therefore,college students who had experienced abuse as children were studied.It helps to understand the characteristics of college students who have experienced abuse in their childhood in order to improve their future social interaction.ObjectivesThrough the introduction of coping style and interpersonal trust,this study examined the specific effects of the corresponding intermediary model on the mental health of college students.MethodsA stratified random sampling method was used to select 710 college students(freshmen,sophomores,seniors and seniors)from a university in Henan Province.Self-made general situation questionnaire,Childhood Trauma Questionnaire,simple coping style questionnaire,Interpersonal Trust Scale and mental health scale were used.Results(1)In the sample of College students,the incidence of different types of childhood abuse among college students ranged from high to low,followed by physical neglect(81.53%),emotional neglect(53.97%),physical and emotional abuse(32.18%)and sexual abuse(12.55%).(2)There were significant differences in demographic variables of childhood abuse among college students,which are as follows: the differences in physical and emotional abuse,sexual abuse and physical neglect.The boys' are significantly higher than that the girls'(P<0.05);the differences in physical and emotional abuse and sexual abuse among Left-behind Students were significantly higher than those of non-left-behind students(P<0.05);and the differences in physical and emotional abuse and sexual abuse among fathers are significant in their cultural level.(P<0.05).There were significant differences in the total scores of physical and emotional abuse,sexual abuse and abuse among mothers(P<0.05).(3)There were significant differences in demographic variables of College Students' mental health,which are manifested as follows: the dimension of male students' paranoia and hostility was higher than that of female students(P<0.05);the dimension of Left-behind depression is significantly higher than that of non-left-behind(P<0.05);in different family structures,except for psychological imbalance,there were significant differences(P<0.05);in the degree of father's education,learning.There were significant differences in the dimensions of learning stress,maladjustment and psychological imbalance(P<0.05).There were significant differences in the dimensions of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and depression(P<0.05)in the educational level of mothers.(4)Childhood abuse was negatively correlated with positive coping style(r=-0.22,P<0.01),interpersonal trust(r=-0.17,P<0.01),and positively correlated with negative coping style(r=0.14,P<0.01)and mental health(r=0.32,P<0.01).(5)College students' mental health is negatively correlated with positive coping(r=-0.17,P<0.01),negatively correlated with negative coping(r=0.27,P<0.01),and negatively correlated with interpersonal trust(r=-0.29,P<0.01).(6)Childhood abuse,coping style and interpersonal trust of college students can predict their mental health level.Among them,child abuse and negative coping have positive predictive effects on mental health,while positive coping and interpersonal trust have negative predictive effects on mental health.(7)Positive and negative coping styles play a mediating role between childhood abuse and mental health of College students.Interpersonal trust has a significant mediating effect between childhood abuse and mental health of College students.Conclusions(1)Different gender,whether to stay behind and parental education have different effects on college students' childhood abuse;Demographic variables such as gender,whether or not to stay and family structure have different effects on the mental health of college students.(2)Childhood abuse in college students directly affects mental health.(3)Childhood abuse in college students also affects mental health through coping style and the intermediary effect of interpersonal trust.