Department of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2021 May;115:105023. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105023. Epub 2021 Mar 13.
Experiences of maltreatment in childhood, such as abuse and neglect, have been associated with poorer psychological well-being in adulthood, including elevated risk of revictimization and increased likelihood of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Maltreatment has also been associated with reduced resources related to resilience, such as optimism, which may act as a protective factor for mental health.
In this study, we examined the mediating role of dispositional optimism in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and PTSD symptom severity from recent trauma in a sample of adults (n = 108) who presented to their local emergency department following trauma.
We analyzed six models to account for cumulative childhood maltreatment as well as five primary subtypes of maltreatment: emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect.
Greater dispositional optimism mediated relations between total maltreatment and decreased PTSD severity (B = .056, SE = .029, 95 % CI [.009, .121]). Optimism also mediated relations between all maltreatment subtypes and PTSD severity, except sexual abuse.
These results may suggest optimism and positive psychology interventions as effective techniques in reducing the likelihood of PTSD development and severity in trauma-exposed individuals.
儿童时期遭受虐待的经历，如虐待和忽视，与成年后较差的心理健康状况有关，包括再次受害的风险增加和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状的可能性增加。虐待还与与韧性相关的资源减少有关，例如乐观，这可能是心理健康的保护因素。
在本研究中，我们研究了在经历创伤后到当地急诊室就诊的成年人样本中（n = 108），童年虐待与近期创伤后 PTSD 症状严重程度之间的关系，其中存在中介作用的是性格乐观。
我们分析了六个模型，以说明累积的童年虐待以及五种主要的虐待类型：情感虐待、身体虐待、性虐待、情感忽视和身体忽视。
更大的性格乐观程度在总虐待和 PTSD 严重程度降低之间存在中介关系（B =.056，SE =.029，95 % CI [.009，.121]）。乐观还在所有虐待类型与 PTSD 严重程度之间存在中介关系，除了性虐待。
这些结果可能表明乐观和积极心理学干预是减少创伤后个体 PTSD 发生和严重程度的有效方法。
