Ren Ao, Zhu Ningzhe, Liu Yuening, Liu Yifan, Yang Xiaoni, Li Chengcheng, Kong Feng
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
J Youth Adolesc. 2025 May;54(5):1097-1108. doi: 10.1007/s10964-024-02118-z. Epub 2024 Dec 7.
Childhood emotional maltreatment is a crucial risk factor for gratitude in adolescents. However, previous research has not investigated the effects of two types of emotional maltreatment (i.e., emotional abuse and emotional neglect) on gratitude, and explored the underlying mechanisms. To address existing research gaps, this study investigated how childhood emotional maltreatment affected adolescent gratitude, as well as the potential role of parent-child attachment in the Chinese context. A total of 491 Chinese adolescents from a public high school (M = 16.19 years, SD = 0.50; 60.5% female) participated in this 10-month, three-wave longitudinal study. The path analysis revealed that cumulative childhood emotional maltreatment and childhood emotional neglect at T1 predicted lower levels of gratitude at T3, while childhood emotional abuse did not. Additionally, parent-child attachment at T2 mediated the relationship between cumulative childhood emotional maltreatment at T1 and gratitude at T3. These findings underscore the enduring negative impact of childhood emotional maltreatment on adolescent gratitude and highlight the crucial role of parent-child attachment in this relationship.
童年期情感虐待是青少年感恩的一个关键风险因素。然而，以往的研究尚未调查两种类型的情感虐待（即情感虐待和情感忽视）对感恩的影响，也未探究其潜在机制。为填补现有研究空白，本研究调查了童年期情感虐待如何影响青少年感恩，以及在中国背景下亲子依恋的潜在作用。来自一所公立高中的491名中国青少年（M = 16.19岁，SD = 0.50；60.5%为女性）参与了这项为期10个月、分三波进行的纵向研究。路径分析表明，T1时的累积童年期情感虐待和童年期情感忽视可预测T3时感恩水平较低，而童年期情感虐待则不然。此外，T2时的亲子依恋在T1时的累积童年期情感虐待与T3时的感恩之间起中介作用。这些发现强调了童年期情感虐待对青少年感恩的持久负面影响，并突出了亲子依恋在这种关系中的关键作用。
