TY - JOUR
T1 - Early adverse stress and depression severity
T2 - A pilot exploration of mediating psychological mechanisms
AU - Martínez, Pablo
AU - Gloger, Sergio
AU - Dagnino, Paula
AU - De Medina, Dante Diez
N1 - Funding Information:
Our report presents cross-sectional, secondary analyses of the baseline data from a longitudinal study entitled Profiles of depression and its relation to the therapeutic process, grant number 11170561, awarded by the Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development. The reported data came from a private research and mental health care institution in Santiago, Chile – Psicomedica, Clinical & Research Group. Psicomedica offers mental health outpatient care for middle-income urban populations.
Funding Information:
Pablo Martínez and Paula Dagnino received support from the ANID – Millennium Science Initiative Program/Millennium Institute for Research on Depression and Personality-MIDAP ICS13_005. Additionally, Pablo Martínez was supported by the ANID – Millennium Science Initiative Program – NCS17_035. Paula Dagnino also received support from ANID/CONICYT Project No. 11170561. The supporting institutions had no role in the design and conduct of the study; analysis and interpretation of the data; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Objective: To explore the associations between early adverse stress, attachment insecurity in adulthood (anxious and avoidant), pathological personality styles (self-criticism and dependency), difficulties in emotion regulation, and depression severity. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 178 outpatients diagnosed with major depression in Santiago, Chile. Participants filled the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form, the Experience in Close Relationships Scale, the Depressive Experience Questionnaire, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item. Full-information maximum likelihood path analyses with bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals were conducted. Results: Anxious attachment in adulthood and self-criticism mediated the association between early adverse stress and depression severity through their effects on difficulties in emotion regulation. Early adverse stress was not associated with avoidant attachment in adulthood and dependency; these variables were indirectly associated with depression severity. Difficulties in emotion regulation were exclusively directly related to depression severity, mediating the effects of the preceding variables. Conclusions: Our findings propose an integrative model for psychological mechanisms mediating between early adverse stress and depression. Difficulties in emotion regulation should be considered when treating adults with depression exposed to early adverse stress. The contribution of specific types of early adverse stressors and difficulties in emotion regulation should be further explored.
AB - Objective: To explore the associations between early adverse stress, attachment insecurity in adulthood (anxious and avoidant), pathological personality styles (self-criticism and dependency), difficulties in emotion regulation, and depression severity. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 178 outpatients diagnosed with major depression in Santiago, Chile. Participants filled the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form, the Experience in Close Relationships Scale, the Depressive Experience Questionnaire, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item. Full-information maximum likelihood path analyses with bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals were conducted. Results: Anxious attachment in adulthood and self-criticism mediated the association between early adverse stress and depression severity through their effects on difficulties in emotion regulation. Early adverse stress was not associated with avoidant attachment in adulthood and dependency; these variables were indirectly associated with depression severity. Difficulties in emotion regulation were exclusively directly related to depression severity, mediating the effects of the preceding variables. Conclusions: Our findings propose an integrative model for psychological mechanisms mediating between early adverse stress and depression. Difficulties in emotion regulation should be considered when treating adults with depression exposed to early adverse stress. The contribution of specific types of early adverse stressors and difficulties in emotion regulation should be further explored.
KW - Keywords:
KW - adverse childhood experiences
KW - depression
KW - emotional regulation
KW - personality development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165125330&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0954579423000688
DO - 10.1017/S0954579423000688
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85165125330
SN - 0954-5794
JO - Development and Psychopathology
JF - Development and Psychopathology
ER -