Zhang Chang-Hong, Li Ge, Fan Zhao-Ya, Tang Xiao-Jun, Zhang Fan
School of Public Health and Management, Research Center for Medicine and Social Development, Collaborative Innovation Center of Social Risks Governance in Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, People's Republic of China.
The Center of Experimental Teaching Management, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401331, People's Republic of China.
Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2020 Dec 31;13:1343-1352. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S288647. eCollection 2020.
A much higher prevalence of alexithymia has been found in medical students compared with the general population. This study aimed to test the potential mediating effect of psychological capital on the relationship between childhood trauma and alexithymia in Chinese medical students, thereby providing clues for future interventions aimed at dealing with alexithymia in this population.
Convenience cluster sampling was used to recruit 1200 medical students in Chongqing, China. This cross-sectional study utilised the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire. A structural equation model with maximum likelihood was used to study the mediating effect presented in the aim, and the significance of the mediating effect was examined by the bootstrap method. Multiple-group invariance analyses were also conducted to confirm the stability of the model.
A total of 1018 were identified to have valid responses with a rate of 84.83%. 38.4% were males, 61.6% were females. The prevalence of alexithymia was 16.5%. Results of structural equation model showed that childhood trauma was positively related to alexithymia, with a standard path coefficient of 0.219 (C.R.=6.644, P<0.001). The partial mediating effect of psychological capital was 0.060 (P<0.001), accounting for 21.51% of the total effect of childhood trauma on alexithymia. Results of bootstrap method showed that the lower and upper bounds of the 95% confidence interval did not contain 0, and the multiple-group invariance analyses showed that the p values of the changes in the degrees of freedom and chi-square value were greater than 0.05, thus confirming the stability of the model.
Childhood trauma was a direct predictor of alexithymia among Chinese medical students, and the relationship between these two was partially mediated by psychological capital. Therefore, interventions aimed at enhancing psychological capital in this population may be effective at diminishing alexithymia.
与普通人群相比，医学生中述情障碍的患病率要高得多。本研究旨在检验心理资本对中国医学生童年创伤与述情障碍之间关系的潜在中介作用，从而为未来针对该人群述情障碍的干预措施提供线索。
采用便利整群抽样法，在中国重庆招募了1200名医学生。这项横断面研究使用了儿童创伤问卷简表、多伦多述情障碍量表和心理资本问卷。采用最大似然法的结构方程模型来研究目标中呈现的中介作用，并通过自助法检验中介作用的显著性。还进行了多组不变性分析以确认模型的稳定性。
共确定1018份有效问卷，有效率为84.83%。男性占38.4%，女性占61.6%。述情障碍的患病率为16.5%。结构方程模型结果显示，童年创伤与述情障碍呈正相关，标准路径系数为0.219（C.R.=6.644，P<0.001）。心理资本的部分中介效应为0.060（P<0.001），占童年创伤对述情障碍总效应的21.51%。自助法结果显示，95%置信区间的下限和上限不包含0，多组不变性分析显示自由度变化和卡方值的p值大于0.05，从而证实了模型的稳定性。
童年创伤是中国医学生述情障碍的直接预测因素，二者之间的关系部分由心理资本介导。因此，旨在增强该人群心理资本的干预措施可能有助于减少述情障碍。
