Mediating effects of social supports between childhood abuse and mental health in graduate students

Abstract

Objective To explore whether childhood abuse experiences predict higher levels of depression and lower levels of self-esteem for graduate students and examine the mediating role of social support between childhood abuse and mental health. Methods A sample of 907 graduate students were investigated with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF), Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), Self-esteem Scale (SES) and Center for Epidemiological Survey Scale (CESD). Results The scores of childhood abuse, social support, self-esteem, and depression of graduate students were (33.88±9.35), (68.31±12.01), (36.62±4.80) and (35.85±9.20). Childhood abuse was negatively correlated with self-esteem (r=-0.32, P<0.01), but positively correlated with depression (r=0.28, P<0.01), and negatively correlated with social support (r=-0.44, P<0.01). Social support was positively correlated with self-esteem (r=0.39, P<0.01), and negatively correlated with depression (r=-0.41, P<0.01). Examining the mediation model indicated that social support had a partial mediation effects(42%) on the relationship between childhood abuse and self-esteem, and social support had a partial mediation effects(54%) on the relationship between childhood abuse and depression. Conclusions The childhood abuse not only affects the graduate student's self-esteem and depression directly, but also can take the same effect by social support indirectly. Key words: Childhood abuse; Social support; Self-esteem; Depression; Graduate students