Resilience as a Mediator Between Childhood Trauma and Adult Psychopathology: The Moderating Role of Harm Avoidance in Korean Adults.

Background/

Objectives

Childhood trauma is a well-established risk factor for adult psychopathology, yet the underlying neuropsychiatric mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, this study examined whether resilience mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and depressive and anxiety symptoms, and whether this pathway is moderated by harm avoidance (HA).

Methods

A total of 218 Korean adults (aged 19-50 years; 79 men and 139 women) completed validated measures of childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ)-Short Form), harm avoidance (Temperament and Character Inventory-Harm Avoidance subscale), resilience (Brief Resilience Scale), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7). Mediation and moderated mediation models were tested using structural equation modeling, and indirect effects were estimated via bootstrapping with 5000 resamples.

Results

Childhood trauma was associated with lower resilience, an effect moderated by HA. Resilience was strongly inversely associated with depression and anxiety. Indirect effects of trauma through resilience were significant for both outcomes, with stronger effects at higher HA.

Conclusions

The associations between childhood trauma and both depression and anxiety were mediated by resilience, and this indirect pathway was amplified by HA. These findings suggest a neuropsychiatric mechanism whereby early-life stress and temperament jointly shape effective neural vulnerability, leading to depression- and anxiety-associated outcomes.