Co-occurring childhood maltreatment exposure and depressive symptoms in adulthood: Testing differential effects of stress dysregulation and perceived stress.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Objectives were to explore 1) the association between sub-groups with different multi-type childhood maltreatment exposures and depressive symptoms in late adulthood, and 2) the mediating effects of dysregulated physiological stress system function and perceived stress in midlife on the aforementioned associations.Methods: Data come from the Biomarker project (n = 1,053) of the Midlife Development in the United States study. Latent profile analysis was used to identify sub-groups with differing childhood maltreatment type and chronicity. We then test our mediation hypothesis using a product of coefficients method procedure.Results: Two vulnerable sub-groups were identified (Class 2 Emotional and physical maltreatment class, n = 52, and Class 3 Sexual abuse class, n = 79) along with a normative sub-group (Class 1 Normative class, n = 922) comprising of a majority of adults. Both vulnerable sub-groups had higher levels of perceived stress in late adulthood. Perceived stress mediated the association between both vulnerable sub-groups and depressive symptoms. Physiological stress dysregulation mediated the association only between the emotional and physical maltreatment class and depressive symptoms in late adulthood.Conclusion: Therapeutic approaches targeted at prevention of perceived stress for both vulnerable sub-groups identified in this study and those targeting physiological dysregulation in addition for the emotional and physical maltreatment class could be critical for depressive symptom recovery.