Childhood maltreatment and depressed mood in female college students: A daily diary analysis

Childhood maltreatment has well-documented relations with depressed mood. However, few studies have used a daily diary methodology to investigate the association between all five forms of childhood maltreatment (emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, emotional and physical neglect) and depressed mood, and the mechanisms underlying the association remain unclear.

The current study sought to examine the associations of multiple forms of childhood maltreatment with depressed mood via a 14-day daily diary methodology, and investigate the mediating effects of self-compassion and perceived social support.

A sample of 220 Chinese female college students (M_age = 19.13 years) participated in this study and completed questionnaires regarding childhood maltreatment, self-compassion, perceived social support and depressed mood.

The multilevel regression analysis indicated that only emotional abuse was slightly associated with depressed mood, while emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect, or sexual abuse were not associated with depressed mood. The multilevel mediation analysis further revealed that self-compassion and perceived social support independently mediated the association of childhood emotional abuse with depressed mood.

Overall, these results emphasize the specific association between childhood emotional abuse and daily depressed mood, and further support self-compassion and perceived social support as explanatory mechanisms linking childhood emotional abuse with later depressed mood.