The Effects Of Childhood Abuse And Emotional Regulation Strategies On Depression In College Students

Objective To understand the status quo of depression,childhood abuse and emotion regulation strategies of college students.The results of depression survey were analyzed by factor analysis,latent profile analysis and mixed factor model respectively to explore the best latent variable model.Based on the optimal latent variable model,the effects of childhood abuse and emotion regulation strategies on college students’depression were analyzed.To provide some references for the prevention of college students’depression and mechanism research of the relationship between the three.Methods We selected 563（48.02%）students,283（24.13%）students,121（10.32%）students and 205（17.53%）students from the colleges of Ningxia,Liaoning,Shaanxi and other provinces by convenient sampling method,respectively.A total of 1172 people.They were investigated through the“Wenjuanxing”,a platform providing functions equivalent to Amazon Mechanical Turk from July to November in 2021.The Self-Rating Depression Scale,Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire were used to evaluate the status of depression,childhood abuse and emotion regulation strategies,respectively.SPSS 22.0 and Amos 17.0 were used for factor analysis and factor model fitting.Mplus 8.3 were used for latent profile analysis and factor mixed model analysis.Amos 17.0 were used for structural equation model analysis.Results1.Status of depression,childhood abuse and emotional regulation strategies in college studentsThe prevalence of depression in college students was 29.3%（343/1172）,and scores of SDS was（47.3±11.3）.The scores of SDS were different among different grades,parents’educational level and parents’marital status,and the differences were statistically significant（all P<0.05）.The prevalence of childhood abuse was 37.5%（439/1172）,and the score of CTQ was（48.2±13.0）.The scores of CTQ were different among different genders,father’s educational level and parents’marital status,and the differences were statistically significant（all P<0.05）.In the emotion regulation strategy,the cognitive reappraisal score was（4.5±1.0）and the expression inhibition score was（3.7±1.1）.The cognitive reevaluation scores were different among different genders,grades,places of origin,fathers’educational level and parents’marital status,and the differences were statistically significant（all P<0.05）.The scores of expression inhibition were different among different genders,ethnic groups,only child or not and mother’s education level,and the differences were statistically significant（all P<0.05）.2.The latent variable model analysis（1）Factor model fitting:The competitive model in factor analysis of Self-rating Depression Scale contains 2 factors,3 factors and 4 factors.According to the fitting index,the 3 factors model was the optimal model.Therefore,the 3 factors model was determined as the appropriate number of factors,and the model was named M₁.（2）Latent profile model fitting:Select 1～5 potential profile models,and the BIC index of the model decreased with the increasing of the number of category,and the inflection point appeared elsewhere in the 3 categories.The Entropy value was maximum at the 3 categories model.The P values of LMR and BLRT were<0.001 at 3 categories.So the 3 categories model were determined to be the appropriate number of category.This model was named M₂.（3）Factor mixture model fitting:Perform 2～3 categories of FMM with 2 factors and 3factors structure as measurement model,and BIC index,Entropy index,P value for LMR and BLRT suggested that the FMM-1 of 3 categories and 3 factors model was more ideal.The model was named M₃.The mixed factor model with factor analysis was used to divide college students into three categories:C1,C2 and C3.The scores of C1 were significantly lower than C2 in various items of the Self-Rating Depression Scale.According to its scoring characteristics,this category was named as"low-risk type".There were 656 people in this category,accounting for56.0%of all respondents.The scores of C2 were lower than C3 in all items.This category was named as"intermediate-risk type",with a total of 316 people,accounting for 27.0%of all respondents.C3 had the highest scores in each item,so it was named as"high-risk type",with200 people,accounting for about 17.0%of all the respondents.Comparing the models of M₁,M₂ and M₃,according the fitting index it can be seen that the best latent model for depression measurement results of college students was M₃.3.The effects of childhood abuse and emotion regulation strategies on college students’depression（1）In the high-risk type,the scores of expression inhibition,emotional abuse,sexual abuse,physical neglect and emotional neglect were the highest,and the score of cognitive reevaluation was lowest.In the low-risk type,the scores of cognitive reevaluation was the highest,and the score of expression inhibition was the lowest.The differences were statistically significant（all P<0.01）.（2）In the low-risk type,cognitive symptoms were positively correlated with physical neglect and emotional neglect（r≥0.240）,and negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal（r=-0.156）.Affective symptoms were positively correlated with emotional abuse and expression inhibition（r≥0.297）,and negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal（r=0.138）.Somatic symptoms were positively correlated with sexual abuse and physical neglect（r≥0.106）.Expression suppression mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and affective symptoms,with a total effect of 0.229,a direct effect of 0.218,and an indirect effect of 0.011（95%CI:0.001-0.034）.The indirect effect accounted 4.80%of the total effect.（3）In the intermediate type,affective symptoms were positively correlated with physical abuse,emotional abuse,sexual abuse,physical neglect and expression inhibition（r≥0.104）,and negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal（r=0.112）.Somatic symptoms were positively correlated with emotional abuse,physical neglect,emotional neglect and expression inhibition（r≥0.107）.Cognitive reappraisal mediated the relationship between sexual abuse and affective symptoms,with a total effect of 1.893,a direct effect of 1.771,and an indirect effect of 0.122（95%CI:0.004-0.950）.The indirect effect accounted 6.44%of the total effect.Expression suppression mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and affective symptoms,with a total effect of 0.397,a direct effect of 0.395,and an indirect effect of 0.002（95%CI:0.001-0.010）.The indirect effect accounted 0.50%of the total effect.（4）In the high-risk type,cognitive symptoms were positively correlated with physical abuse,emotional abuse,sexual abuse and emotional neglect（r≥0.141）,and negatively correlated with cognitive symptoms（r=-0.140）.Affective symptoms were positively correlated with physical abuse（r=0.158）.Somatic symptoms were positively correlated with physical abuse,emotional abuse and sexual abuse（r≥0.152）.Cognitive reappraisal mediated the relationship between emotional neglect and cognitive symptoms,with a total effect of 0.076,a direct effect of 0.073,and an indirect effect of 0.003（95%CI:0.001-0.027）.The indirect effect accounted 3.95%of the total effect.Conclusion1.The depressive symptoms of college students were mainly affective symptoms.Neglect is the most common form of childhood abuse.College students tend to use cognitive reappraisal.2.The factor model of college students’depression results supported the 3 factors model.The latent profile model supported the 3 categories model.And the mixed factor model supported the 3 categories 3 factors FMM-1 model.By comparing the fitting index,the best latent variable model was three categories and three factors FMM-1 model.3.In the low-risk type,emotional abuse and expression suppression had an impact on affective symptoms;In the intermediate type,sexual abuse and cognitive reappraisal,emotional abuse and expression suppression all had effects on affective symptoms;In high-risk type,emotional neglect and cognitive reappraisal had effects on cognitive symptoms.