نبذة مختصرة : Background: Prior studies have reported that childhood victimization experiences substantially augment the risk of depression and suicide in adulthood. Several of our previous studies suggested that childhood experiences of victimization interact with the quality of parenting experienced in childhood, childhood experiences of abuse, neuroticism, and other factors to influence depressive symptoms in adulthood. In this study, it was hypothesized that "childhood victimization" worsens "trait anxiety" and "depressive rumination", and that "trait anxiety" and "depressive rumination" are mediators that worsen "depressive symptoms in adulthood".
Subjects and Methods: The following self-administered questionnaires were completed by 576 adult volunteers: Patient Health Questionnaire-9, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory form Y, Ruminative Responses Scale, and Childhood Victimization Rating Scale. Statistical analyses were performed by Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, t-test, multiple regression analysis, path analysis, and covariance structure analysis.
Results: Path analysis demonstrated that the direct effect was statistically significant for the paths from childhood victimization to trait anxiety, depressive rumination, and depressive symptom severity. Moreover, the indirect effect of childhood victimization on depressive rumination mediated by trait anxiety was statistically significant. The indirect effects of childhood victimization on depressive symptom severity mediated by trait anxiety and depressive rumination were statistically significant. Furthermore, the indirect effect of childhood victimization on depressive symptom severity mediated by both trait anxiety and depressive rumination was statistically significant.
Conclusions: We found that childhood victimization directly and adversely influenced each of the above factors, and indirectly worsened adulthood depressive symptoms with trait anxiety and depressive ruminations as mediating factors. The present study is the first to clarify these mediation effects. Therefore, the results of this study suggest the importance of preventing childhood victimization and the importance of identifying and addressing childhood victimization in patients with clinical depression.
Competing Interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Jiro Masuya has received personal compensation from Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Eli Lilly, Astellas, MSD, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Shionogi Pharmaceutical, and Meiji Yasuda Mental Health Foundation, as well as grants from Pfizer, and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. Takeshi Inoue has received personal fees from Mochida Pharmaceutical, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Eli Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceutical, MSD, Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical, Yoshitomiyakuhin, and Ono Pharmaceutical; a grant from Astellas; and grants and personal fees from Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry, Pfizer, Shionogi, Tsumura, Novartis Pharma, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo, and Meiji Seika Pharma; and is a member of the advisory boards of Pfizer, Novartis Pharma, and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. All other authors declare that they have no actual or potential conflicts of interest associated with this study. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
(Copyright: © 2023 Masuya et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Processing Request
No Comments.