Early Maladaptive Schemas Underlying the Relation between Childhood Maltreatment and Adult Depression
Year: 2015
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Numerous studies suggest the possibility that early maladaptive schemas (Young, Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003) mediate the relation between childhood maltreatment and adult depression, although few studies test this explicitly.Moreover, there are no studies available that examine four early maladaptive schemas associated with both abuse and negative outcomes as mediators of multiple types of childhood maltreatment (tested individually) and depression.This study of 830 college women examined whether the defectiveness, mistrust, emotional deprivation, and abandonment early maladaptive schemas mediate the relation between childhood maltreatment and adult depressive symptoms.Four forms of childhood maltreatment were individually assessed: emotional, sexual, and physical abuse, and witnessing interparental violence.In addition, the presence of any form of childhood maltreatment (regardless of type) as well as number of types of maltreatment experienced (i.e., polyvictimization) were examined in mediation analyses.Through use of the PROCESS macro, which tests conditional process models, these analyses showed that defectiveness, mistrust, and abandonment, but not emotional deprivation, mediated the relation between childhood maltreatment (i.e., each of the four forms of maltreatment, the presence of any form of maltreatment, and the number of types of maltreatment experienced) and adult depressive symptoms.Clinical implications of the study findings are discussed.
Author: Jay Scolio
Institution: Miami University
Language: English
Topic: Child Abuse and Trauma
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2338918018