Childhood Maltreatment And Internalizing Problems Among Adolescents:Predictive Model Comparison And Mediating Mechanism

Childhood maltreatment is a worldwide public health concern,and it’s associated with adolescents’ mental outcomes,such as depression,anxiety,non-suicidal self-injury,substance abuse,etc.Previous studies have employed the cumulative risk model and multiple individual risk model to investigate the association between childhood maltreatment and adolescent internalizing problems.However,few studies have used person-centered approaches(e.g.,latent profile/latent class analysis)to identify the specific maltreatment patterns in the Chinese context,let alone the comparative study about the predictive validities of these approaches.In addition,the underlying mechanism between childhood maltreatment and internalizing problems is yet to be fully explored.Therefore,the current study aimed to find out the optimal predicting model of childhood maltreatment on adolescent internalizing problems through model comparison,and further examined investigated the mechanisms of the relationship between the key maltreatment variable and internalizing problems.This thesis included the following two studies(four sub-studies).Study 1 compared latent profile analysis,cumulative risk and multiple individual risks approach to test which model predicted internalizing problems better.Study 1a investigated the patterns of maltreatment using a latent profile analysis and revealed a two-profile model(“No Maltreatment” and“Multiple Maltreatment”).Study 1b compared the predictive validity of three models: Latent profile analysis,multiple individual risks model and the cumulative risk model.The results showed that the former two approaches provided more information about the specific types and severity of maltreatment experience,uncovering the high concurrent exposure of emotional abuse and neglect among Chinese adolescents,as well as their more salient influence on anxiety and depression.Based on the results of the model comparison,study 2 constructed a multiple mediation model to explore the mechanisms between emotional abuse/emotional neglect and internalizing problems.Study 2a examined the mediating role of both maladaptive and adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies(CERSs)in the relationship between emotional abuse/neglect and anxiety and depression.The results showed that maladaptive CERSs partially mediated the relationship between both emotional abuse/neglect and adolescents’ internalizing problems,while adaptive CERSs only mediated between emotional neglect and internalizing problems.Besides,maladaptive CERSs were more harmful to mental health than adaptive CERSs.Study 2b further explored the mediating role of specific maladaptive CERSs,including self-blame,rumination,catastrophizing,and blaming others.And results indicated the significant mediation effects of rumination and catastrophizing on the association between emotional abuse/neglect and internalizing problems.The current study comprehensively investigated the link between childhood maltreatment and adolescents’ internalizing problems.By comparing three different models,we found that emotional abuse and neglect had the greatest impact on anxiety and depression.Then,the multiple mediation model revealed a salient mediating role of maladaptive CERSs between emotional abuse/neglect and internalizing problems,and further uncovered the specific effects of rumination and catastrophizing.Results of the above studies may serve as warnings for parents in the process of child-rearing,meanwhile,guiding for identifying students who may be at risk of anxiety and depression among maltreated adolescents.