Weiss Elisabeth M, Fink Andreas, Papousek Ilona, Exenberger-Vanham Silvia, Lampe Astrid, Dresen Verena, Canazei Markus
Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 4;16:1452732. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1452732. eCollection 2025.
Initial studies suggest that individuals with a history of traumatic life experiences, particularly childhood trauma, may be more susceptible to increased mental health problems in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The present cross-sectional study compared the mental health status of three cohorts of university students before (2016), at the beginning (2020) and at the end (2022) of the COVID-19 pandemic. The students in each cohort were divided into two groups: those with self-reported moderate/severe childhood trauma (n = 126) and those with no/mild childhood trauma (n = 438).
Across all cohorts, students with moderate/severe childhood trauma consistently reported higher levels of psychological and physical stress compared to individuals with no/mild childhood trauma experiences. However, only the no/mild childhood trauma group exhibited an increase in mental health problems (i.e., heightened depressive symptoms and greater subjective impairment due to physical and psychological symptoms) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, within the no/mild childhood trauma group, students in the 2022 cohort reported significantly higher psychological distress compared to those surveyed in 2020. In contrast, mental health scores among students with moderate/severe childhood trauma remained unchanged across the pre-pandemic and pandemic cohorts.
The findings of this study do not support the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately exacerbated mental health problems in individuals with a history of moderate to severe childhood trauma. Instead, our results suggest that the pandemic's impact on mental health was more pronounced in students with no or only mild childhood trauma.
初步研究表明，有创伤性生活经历，尤其是童年创伤史的个体，在新冠疫情后可能更容易出现心理健康问题增加的情况。
本横断面研究比较了三组大学生在新冠疫情之前（2016年）、开始时（2020年）和结束时（2022年）的心理健康状况。每组学生被分为两组：自我报告有中度/重度童年创伤的学生（n = 126）和无/轻度童年创伤的学生（n = 438）。
在所有组中，与无/轻度童年创伤经历的个体相比，有中度/重度童年创伤的学生始终报告有更高水平的心理和生理压力。然而，只有无/轻度童年创伤组在新冠疫情期间出现了心理健康问题增加的情况（即抑郁症状加剧以及因身体和心理症状导致的主观损害更大）。此外，在无/轻度童年创伤组中，2022年组的学生报告的心理困扰明显高于2020年接受调查的学生。相比之下，有中度/重度童年创伤的学生在疫情前和疫情期间的心理健康得分保持不变。
本研究结果不支持这样的假设，即新冠疫情使有中度至重度童年创伤史的个体的心理健康问题加剧的程度更高。相反，我们的结果表明，疫情对心理健康的影响在没有或只有轻度童年创伤的学生中更为明显。
