Ramos B, Dion J, Bőthe B, Girouard A, Hébert M, Wong E, Bergeron S. Cumulative interpersonal childhood adversity and post-traumatic stress symptoms across heterosexual, cisgender and gender and sexually diverse adolescents: The mediating role of emotion regulation.
Child Abuse Negl 2022;
124:105454. [PMID:
34991013 DOI:
10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105454]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Emotion regulation has been identified as an explanatory factor in the association between interpersonal childhood adversity and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). However, most studies focused on adults or older adolescents, neglecting youth from the community, especially gender and sexually diverse (GSD) adolescents, who have a higher risk for exposure to adverse events and psychological difficulties, compared to their heterosexual, cisgender (HC) peers.
OBJECTIVE
The present cross-sectional study aimed to examine the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the association between cumulative interpersonal childhood adversity and PTSS across HC and GSD adolescents.
METHODS
A sample of 2904 ninth grade students (Mage = 14.53, SD = 0.61) completed a self-report survey. Multigroup path analyses were conducted to examine the proposed mediation model in all groups, and comparisons were made using chi-square difference tests.
RESULTS
Greater difficulties in emotion regulation mediated the association between greater cumulative interpersonal childhood adversity (β = 0.36, p < .001) and greater PTSS (β = 0.35, p < .001) - regardless of HC or GSD status - although the direct association between cumulative interpersonal childhood adversity and PTSS was significantly stronger among GSD boys (β = 0.36, p < .001) and GSD girls (β = 0.35, p < .001) than among HC boys (β = 0.21, p < .001) and HC girls (β = 0.25, p < .001).
CONCLUSIONS
Findings offer a modifiable target for prevention and/or intervention among middle adolescents, as emotion regulation difficulties may partially explain the presence of PTSS following cumulative interpersonal childhood adversity.
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