Department of Sociology & Psychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, China; Institute of Psychology, Sichuan University, China.
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
J Affect Disord. 2022 Jul 1;308:213-220. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.007. Epub 2022 Apr 6.
There is a high and increasing prevalence of depression symptoms among gay and bisexual individuals. Studies have found that childhood emotional abuse (CEA) can impact mental-health problems in adulthood; however, limited research on this association among marginalized populations, especially in China. This study aimed to explore the relationship between CEA and depression symptoms in adulthood among gay and bisexual youths in China and to test the mediating role of rejection sensitivity and the moderating role of sexual identity in this relationship.
Participants comprised 496 gay and bisexual Chinese men aged 18-29 years. They responded to a questionnaire that assessed history of CEA, rejection sensitivity, and depression symptoms.
CEA showed a positive association with depression symptoms among participants. Participants' rejection sensitivity played a partial mediating role in the relationship between CEA and depression symptoms. Sexual identity had a moderating effect on the CEA's influence on depression symptoms, with a stronger impact for gay men than bisexual men.
Cross-sectional approach limited casual inferences among variables. Recall bias regarding CEA may have impacted the accuracy of the effect sizes observed.
This study contributes to improving understanding of CEA's role as a substantial risk factor for strong depression symptoms in adulthood among gay and bisexual youths and it demonstrates that focusing on educating families and establishing equal policies is important to decrease and eliminate depression symptoms. Theories of sexual minority stress and biphobia are applicable for explaining mental health outcomes among young members of sexual minorities in China.
同性恋和双性恋者中抑郁症状的发生率很高且呈上升趋势。研究发现，童年期情感虐待（CEA）会影响成年后的心理健康问题；然而，针对边缘化人群（尤其是中国）的此类关联的研究有限。本研究旨在探讨中国同性恋和双性恋青年中 CEA 与成年后抑郁症状之间的关系，并检验拒绝敏感性的中介作用和性身份认同在这种关系中的调节作用。
参与者包括 496 名年龄在 18-29 岁的同性恋和双性恋中国男性。他们回答了一份问卷，评估了童年期情感虐待史、拒绝敏感性和抑郁症状。
CEA 与参与者的抑郁症状呈正相关。参与者的拒绝敏感性在 CEA 与抑郁症状之间的关系中起部分中介作用。性身份认同对 CEA 对抑郁症状的影响具有调节作用，同性恋男性比双性恋男性的影响更强。
横断面方法限制了变量之间的因果推断。对 CEA 的回忆偏差可能会影响观察到的效应大小的准确性。
本研究有助于提高对 CEA 作为同性恋和双性恋青年成年后强烈抑郁症状的重要风险因素的认识，并表明关注教育家庭和制定平等政策对于减少和消除抑郁症状很重要。性少数群体应激和双性恋恐惧症理论适用于解释中国性少数群体青年的心理健康结果。
