The Impact of Childhood Abuse on Anxiety and Depression in Chinese Adolescents: A Transdiagnostic Model

Anxiety-depression comorbidity in adolescents has become an urgent public health problem, and childhood abuse has been proven to be associated with it. However, the mechanisms that drive this association are still relatively underexplored. This study investigated the cognitive and emotional mechanisms underlying this association, and whether these are moderated by teacher and peer support. Data came from 1184 Chinese adolescents (M_AgeTime1 = 13.82 years, SD = 1.50; 53.5% boys) from a three-wave longitudinal study with data spanning 1.5 years. Results revealed that a general factor (the internalizing factor) can capture the common etiology of anxiety and depression. Interpretation bias and emotion regulation difficulties mediated the association between childhood abuse and the internalizing factor. Furthermore, high teacher support buffered the positive association between emotion regulation difficulties and the internalizing factor, amplifying the positive association between interpretation bias and the internalizing factor. These findings emphasize the importance of individual cognition, emotional, and social contexts in adolescents with abuse experiences and provide empirical evidence for the intervention and clinical treatment of anxiety and depressive symptoms.