Objective Childhood abuse is positively associated with adult mental health problems and adult interpersonal relationships have been previously suggested to be a mediator. The role of marital partners, however, is less well understood. The current study will investigate marital quality as a mediator linking childhood abuse and positive and negative affective symptoms. Method The current study utilized 3 waves of data from the Midlife Development in the United States. Using a sample of 1,104 married adults (95.4% White), structural equation modeling examined the mediating effect of marital quality linking childhood abuse to positive and negative affective symptoms over a 20-year period. Results Structural equation modeling revealed that childhood abuse was inversely associated with marital quality but was not directly associated with positive or negative affective symptoms. Marital quality was positively associated with greater positive affect and negatively associated with lower negative affect over a 9-year period, controlling for prior symptoms. Tests of indirect effects indicate that marital quality mediated the relationship between childhood abuse to both positive and negative affective symptoms, fully accounting for the association. Discussion It appears that childhood abuse impacts the quality of adults’ marriages, which may have significant implications for both positive and negative aspects of adult mental health. Marriages may be an important factor in understanding mental health in midlife and older adults among adults who were abused. Interventions should target the quality of adult marriages, and focusing on marital support, strain, and disagreement may be particularly effective.

中文翻译：

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对婚姻质量的纵向调查作为将儿童虐待与情感症状联系起来的中介

目标儿童期虐待与成人心理健康问题呈正相关，成人人际关系以前曾被认为是一种中介因素。然而，婚姻伴侣的作用却鲜为人知。目前的研究将调查婚姻质量作为将童年虐待与积极和消极情感症状联系起来的中介。方法 目前的研究使用了来自美国中年发展的 3 波数据。使用 1,104 名已婚成年人（95.4% 白人）的样本，结构方程模型检验了婚姻质量在 20 年期间将童年虐待与积极和消极情感症状联系起来的中介效应。结果 结构方程模型显示，童年虐待与婚姻质量呈负相关，但与积极或消极的情感症状没有直接关系。在 9 年期间，婚姻质量与更大的积极影响呈正相关，而与较低的负面影响呈负相关，控制了先前的症状。间接影响的测试表明，婚姻质量介导了童年虐待与积极和消极情感症状之间的关系，充分说明了这种关联。讨论 童年虐待似乎会影响成年人的婚姻质量，这可能对成年人心理健康的积极和消极方面产生重大影响。婚姻可能是了解受虐待成年人中年和老年人心理健康的重要因素。干预措施应针对成年婚姻的质量，关注婚姻支持、压力和分歧可能特别有效。