Marital quality and depression as mediators linking childhood maltreatment to adult physical health.

BACKGROUND

Childhood maltreatment is known to influence adult physical health among midlife adults. Evidence suggests that depressive symptoms mediate the association. However, research has discounted the role of marital quality in understanding health outcomes among adults maltreated in childhood.

OBJECTIVE

To advance this line of inquiry, we examined the relationship between marital quality and depressive symptoms in a sequential mediation model linking childhood maltreatment to adult physical health over ten years.

PARTICIPANTS AND

SETTING

Our sample consisted of midlife adults (n = 550) from three waves of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study. The majority (n = 91.4 %) were white. At MIDUS 2, the mean age was 54.84 (SD = 10.78) and the mean age at MIDUS 3 was 63.96 (SD = 10.81).

METHODS

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the degree to which marital quality and depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult physical outcomes. Bootstrapping procedures were used to estimate the indirect effects.

RESULTS

The serial mediation effects from maltreatment to adult physical health through marital quality and depressive symptoms were significant. Likewise, the simple indirect effects from maltreatment to subjective evaluations and the number of chronic health conditions through depressive symptoms were also significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Childhood maltreatment is linked to adult physical health problems through marital quality and depressive symptoms, suggesting that the quality of adult marriages may play a critical role in health outcomes. Improving the quality of marriages may reduce risk factors, such as depression, that potentate future physical health problems.