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Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress

INTRODUCTION: Researchers have documented that the impact of childhood maltreatment on later symptoms of depression differs depending on the type(s) of maltreatment experienced, with emotional abuse and neglect being more likely than other forms of childhood maltreatment to increase the risk for dep...

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Autores principales: Jopling, Ellen, Tracy, Alison, LeMoult, Joelle
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6969673/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32021511
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S231505
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author Jopling, Ellen
Tracy, Alison
LeMoult, Joelle
author_facet Jopling, Ellen
Tracy, Alison
LeMoult, Joelle
author_sort Jopling, Ellen
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Researchers have documented that the impact of childhood maltreatment on later symptoms of depression differs depending on the type(s) of maltreatment experienced, with emotional abuse and neglect being more likely than other forms of childhood maltreatment to increase the risk for depression. It is possible that emotional abuse and neglect are more likely to increase the risk for depression because they promote the development of negative self-referential processing (SRP), but this has not yet been tested empirically. The current study was designed to examine whether negative SRP mediated the association between different forms of childhood maltreatment and symptoms of depression during a time of stress. METHODS: We assessed the experience of different forms of childhood maltreatment (ie, emotional neglect, physical neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse) and negatively biased self-schemas early on in the university semester, among a sample of undergraduate students. We then assessed levels of depressive symptoms 2 months later during a naturalistic stressor (ie, university students’ first final exams). RESULTS: As expected, negative SRP mediated the relation between both neglect and emotional abuse, but not physical and sexual abuse, and later symptoms of depression. DISCUSSION: This is the first study to examine SRP as a mechanism underlying the association between forms of childhood maltreatment and symptoms of depression during a time of stress. Results suggest that the development of negative SRP biases may explain why some types of childhood maltreatment are more likely than others to increase an individual’s risk for depression during stressful developmental periods.
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spelling pubmed-69696732020-02-04 Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress Jopling, Ellen Tracy, Alison LeMoult, Joelle Psychol Res Behav Manag Original Research INTRODUCTION: Researchers have documented that the impact of childhood maltreatment on later symptoms of depression differs depending on the type(s) of maltreatment experienced, with emotional abuse and neglect being more likely than other forms of childhood maltreatment to increase the risk for depression. It is possible that emotional abuse and neglect are more likely to increase the risk for depression because they promote the development of negative self-referential processing (SRP), but this has not yet been tested empirically. The current study was designed to examine whether negative SRP mediated the association between different forms of childhood maltreatment and symptoms of depression during a time of stress. METHODS: We assessed the experience of different forms of childhood maltreatment (ie, emotional neglect, physical neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse) and negatively biased self-schemas early on in the university semester, among a sample of undergraduate students. We then assessed levels of depressive symptoms 2 months later during a naturalistic stressor (ie, university students’ first final exams). RESULTS: As expected, negative SRP mediated the relation between both neglect and emotional abuse, but not physical and sexual abuse, and later symptoms of depression. DISCUSSION: This is the first study to examine SRP as a mechanism underlying the association between forms of childhood maltreatment and symptoms of depression during a time of stress. Results suggest that the development of negative SRP biases may explain why some types of childhood maltreatment are more likely than others to increase an individual’s risk for depression during stressful developmental periods. Dove 2020-01-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6969673/ /pubmed/32021511 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S231505 Text en © 2020 Jopling et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Original Research
Jopling, Ellen
Tracy, Alison
LeMoult, Joelle
Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress
title Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress
title_full Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress
title_fullStr Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress
title_full_unstemmed Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress
title_short Childhood Maltreatment, Negative Self-Referential Processing, and Depressive Symptoms During Stress
title_sort childhood maltreatment, negative self-referential processing, and depressive symptoms during stress
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6969673/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32021511
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S231505
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