Childhood Maltreatment and Depression: The Role of Emotion Regulation and Irrational Beliefs

Numerous factors contribute to the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms in later life, with emotion dysregulation being a key component. This study explored the mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation and irrational beliefs in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16), and the Shortened General Attitude and Belief Scale (SGABS) were administered to a total of 354 participants aged 18-61. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test several models. The initial model proposed that the link between childhood maltreatment and depression symptoms would be mediated by difficulties in emotion regulation and irrational beliefs. The results indicated that irrational beliefs did not fit the data and showed no significant relationship with depression, leading to its removal from the model. In subsequent models, the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between the subscales of the CTQ and depression symptoms was examined. Emotion regulation difficulties were found to fully mediate the relationship between depression symptoms and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and physical abuse, while partially mediating the relationship between depression symptoms and the neglect subscales. Results highlight the importance of understanding the multiple mechanisms involved in adult depressive symptomatology.