Childhood emotional maltreatment predicts subsequent psychological distress in emerging adulthood through increased worry: Resilience conferred by self-compassion.

BACKGROUND

Associations between childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) and psychological distress (e.g., depressive and anxiety symptoms) have been widely demonstrated. However, the underlying mechanisms for such associations involving adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies are still underexplored.

OBJECTIVES

Based on the Emotion Regulation Theory, the present study investigated the potential mediating roles of the avoidance-based (i.e., worry) and the acceptance-based (i.e., self-compassion) ER strategies in the associations of two types of CEM (threat: emotional abuse; deprivation: emotional neglect) with depressive and anxiety symptoms and the potential moderating role of self-compassion in such associations.

METHODS

Three-wave, self-report survey data were collected from 668 Chinese college students (66.8 % female, Mage = 19.96 years old, SD = 1.25) with a 6-month between-wave interval.

RESULTS

Childhood emotional abuse was positively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms through increased worry. Self-compassion moderated the associations of worry with depressive and anxiety symptoms and these positive associations were identified only when self-compassion was low. Further, the indirect pathways from emotional abuse to depressive and anxiety symptoms through increased worry were significant only when self-compassion was low. No medaiting effects involving emotional neglect or self-compassion were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Cognitive avoidance-based ER strategy served as a mediator to transmit the deterimental effect of early emotional abuse on later mental health, whereas acceptance-based ER strategy moderated the negative effect. Accordingly, interventions aimed at reducing psychological distress among individuals with experiences of childhood emotional abuse should consider incoporating components that enhacne self-compassion and reduce worry.