From childhood maltreatment to adult inflammation: Evidence for the mediational status of social anxiety and low positive affect

Abstract

Prior work has established a robust association between childhood maltreatment and systemic inflammatory activation later in life; however, the mechanisms involved in this process remain incompletely understood. The purpose of this investigation was to examine potential mechanistic roles for social anxiety (SA) symptoms and low positive affect (PA) in the path from childhood maltreatment to elevations in circulating interleukin (IL)-6, a common biomarker of inflammatory activation. In addition, building on prior work establishing linkages between mindful awareness and reductions in systemic inflammation, we examined the potential role of trait mindfulness as a moderator of the relationships among childhood maltreatment, SA, low PA, and IL-6. A serial mediation model utilizing a large epidemiologic dataset (final N ​= ​527) supported our central hypothesis that the direct effect of childhood maltreatment on IL-6 was fully serially statistically mediated by SA symptoms and low PA (but not high negative affect). Additionally, results indicated that individuals falling in the upper versus lower quartiles of SA symptoms demonstrated significantly elevated concentrations of IL-6, a finding that has not been previously reported. Trait mindfulness moderated the association between low PA and IL-6, to the exclusion of any paths related to negative affect. Additionally, results indicated that the effect of child maltreatment on IL-6 bypasses SA to indirectly impact IL-6 via negative affect. Overall, we conclude that childhood maltreatment and SA symptoms have a significant influence on IL-6, albeit indirectly via low PA, and the influence of PA on IL-6 may be uniquely susceptible to influence by individual differences in mindfulness.