The effects of childhood abuse on symptom complexity in a clinical sample: mediating effects of emotion regulation difficulties.
The purpose of the present study was to first examine whether childhood abuse predicts symptom complexity, as indicated by the number of clinically elevated scales on the MMPI-2 in an adult clinical sample. Secondly, we investigated whether emotion regulation difficulties mediated the relationship between childhood abuse and symptom complexity. A total of 162 adult outpatients not presenting with psychotic symptoms completed the Korean Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (K-CTQ), Life Events Checklist (LEC), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Korean Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). Partial correlation analysis results indicated that after controlling for the presence of adulthood trauma, childhood abuse was associated with more symptom complexity, or more clinically elevated scales on the MMPI-2. Furthermore, structural equation modeling results showed that emotion regulation difficulties partially mediated the relationship between childhood abuse and symptom complexity. These findings indicate that individuals who had experienced childhood abuse evidence simultaneous presentation of diverse clinical symptoms.
Department of Psychiatry, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University, 1342, Dongilro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Ji Young
JY
Choi
Department of Psychiatry, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University, 1342, Dongilro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Young Min
YM
Choi
Department of Psychiatry, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University, 1342, Dongilro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Min Sook
MS
Gim
Department of Psychiatry, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University, 1342, Dongilro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jun Hyun
JH
Park
Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Soo Hyun
SH
Park
D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Childhood abuse; Emotion regulation difficulty; Symptom complexity