Network analysis of childhood trauma and meaning in life in adolescents with and without depression

Adolescent depression represents a global mental health crisis with dramatically increasing rates worldwide. Childhood trauma (CT) is an established risk factor that disrupts meaning in life (MIL), a process that may exact in a complex interaction with depression. Yet, the trauma-meaning interactions in depressed adolescents remain poorly understood, which impedes development of targeted interventions for vulnerable youth. In this study, we applied network analysis in a large sample of 2,523 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.3 years, 46% male) to examine how CT and MIL interrelate in adolescents, and whether these relationships differ by depression status. Based on Children’s Depression Inventory scores (cutoff = 20), 859 adolescents were classified as depressed and 1,664 as non-depressed. Partial-correlation networks were estimated for four CT subtypes (physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, and emotional neglect) and two MIL dimensions (presence of meaning and search for meaning). Depressed adolescents exhibited significantly stronger global connectivity between trauma and meaning constructs, indicating maladaptive coupling when depression is present. Six network edges differed between groups, with “Physical Abuse-Search for Meaning” and “Emotional Neglect-Search for Meaning” bridging CT and MIL and stronger in depressed adolescents. These findings suggest that CT shows a broader association with meaning-making processes in depression. Physical abuse and emotional neglect are particularly associated with adolescents’ capacity to search for and construct meaning. Results underscore the critical need for comprehensive trauma screening in adolescent depression assessments and highlight meaning-centered interventions as promising therapeutic approaches for prevention and treatment of depression in trauma-exposed youth.