Child Maltreatment and Whole-person Health: Investigation of Psychosocial Buffers Using Structural Equation Modeling

The purpose of this study was to investigate psychosocial factors that may modify associations between child maltreatment and whole-person health (ie, depressive symptoms, chronic health conditions, psychological well-being, and inflammation).

Data were drawn from a subsample ( N = 1255) of Midlife in the United States study, a national longitudinal study of health and well-being. Structural equation modeling was applied to test hypotheses.

Child maltreatment was associated with more depressive symptoms (standardized β = 0.29, p < .001), more chronic health conditions ( β = 0.24, p < .001), poorer psychological well-being ( β = -0.25, p < .001), and elevated C-reactive protein (β = 0.06, p = .041), but not with interleukin-6 (IL-6; β = 0.06, p = .055). There were significant interaction effects between child maltreatment and psychological resources on depressive symptoms (unstandardized b = -0.009, SE = 0.005, p = .045) and IL-6 ( b = -0.001, SE = 0.000, p = .042). Specifically, there were stronger relationships between child maltreatment and more depressive symptoms and elevated IL-6 at low levels of psychological resources than at high levels of psychological resources. There were no statistically significant interaction effects between child maltreatment and social resources on any health outcomes.

High levels of psychological resources significantly mitigate the long-term effects of child maltreatment on depressive symptoms and inflammation among middle-aged and older adults.