Abstract
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been shown to predict the coupling of depression and inflammation in adulthood. Trust within intimate relationships, a core element in marital relations, has been shown to predict positive physical and mental health outcomes, but the mediating role of trust in partners in the association between CSA and inflammation in adulthood requires further study. The present study aimed to examine the impact of CSA on inflammatory biomarkers (IL-6 and IL-1β) in adults with depression and the mediating role of trust. A cross-sectional survey data set of adults presenting with mood and sleep disturbance was used in the analysis. CSA demonstrated a significant negative correlation with IL-6 level (r = -0.28, p<0. 01) in adults with clinically significant depression, while trust showed a significant positive correlation with IL-6 level (r = 0.36, p < .01). Sobel test and bootstrapping revealed a significant mediating role for trust between CSA and IL-6 level. CSA and trust in partners were revealed to have significant associations with IL-6 level in adulthood. Counterintuitively, the directions of association were not those expected. Trust played a mediating role between CSA and adulthood levels of IL-6. Plausible explanations for these counterintuitive findings are discussed.
Highlights
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a global public health problem whose survivors are significantly more vulnerable to both severe mental disorders
Among the five types of childhood trauma measured in this study, CSA showed the strongest association with IL-6 level in participants with clinically significant depression (r = -0.28, p
The other four types of childhood trauma, emotional abuse, physical abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect, show statistically non-significant correlations. This is understandable because CSA is considered to be the most traumatic of these childhood experiences, and can have stronger long-term negative impacts.[4,15]
Summary
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a global public health problem whose survivors are significantly more vulnerable to both severe mental disorders A close, supportive, happy marital relationship is an important interpersonal resource throughout adulthood, especially when facing difficulties.[29] In the past decade, mounting evidence has shown a positive association between the quality of the marital relationship and physical and mental health outcomes across the adult lifespan.[30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37] High-quality marital relationships significantly predict lower levels of inflammation (including lower IL-6 and IL1β levels), especially among women.[38,39,40,41] Trust, a fundamental factor in marital relationships, is critical to improving intimacy and marital quality, and even marital longevity.[42,43] Recent research has suggested that a high level of interpersonal trust predicts positive physical and mental health outcomes.[38] Trust has been shown to be central to recovery from CSA in adulthood both within and without mental health services, as well as a sign of recovery. The current study has the following two objectives: (1) to examine the impacts of CSA on inflammatory biomarkers (i.e., IL-6 and IL-1β) in adults with depression; and (2) to explore how marital quality (especially trust in partners) impacts the association between CSA and the pro-inflammatory cytokine network in adulthood
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