Childhood maltreatment is associated with mental health problems across the life course and depression and social anxiety are two of the more common problems. Given the interpersonal nature of childhood maltreatment, adult romantic relationships have also been a keen interest. It has been suggested that the interpersonal relationships may mediate the relationship between maltreatment and adult mental health; however, little research has examined the mediating role of adult romantic relationships. This omission misses an opportunity to advance empirical understanding as well as clinical intervention. To address this gap, the current study utilized a sample of 785 adults using two waves of data from the study of Midlife of Development in the United States to examine relationship quality as a mediator linking childhood maltreatment to adult depressive and social anxiety symptoms. Interpretation of structural equation models indicated that there were significant indirect effects from childhood maltreatment to both symptoms of depressive and social anxiety through relationship quality. Results of post hoc analysis suggested that gender did not moderate any direct or indirect paths. In light of the significant indirect effects, relationship quality may be a point of intervention. Having a high-quality romantic relationship can provide a corrective experience for adults who were maltreated in childhood, thereby decreasing symptoms of depression and social anxiety.

童年虐待与整个生命过程中的心理健康问题有关，抑郁和社交焦虑是两个更常见的问题。鉴于童年虐待的人际关系性质，成人浪漫关系也引起了浓厚的兴趣。有人提出人际关系可能在虐待与成人心理健康之间的关系中起中介作用；然而，很少有研究考察成人恋爱关系的中介作用。这种遗漏错过了促进经验理解和临床干预的机会。为了弥补这一差距，目前的研究使用了 785 名成年人的样本，使用来自美国中年发展研究的两波数据来检查关系质量作为将童年虐待与成人抑郁和社交焦虑症状联系起来的中介。结构方程模型的解释表明，儿童期虐待通过关系质量对抑郁和社交焦虑症状有显着的间接影响。事后分析的结果表明，性别不会调节任何直接或间接路径。鉴于显着的间接影响，关系质量可能是一个干预点。拥有高质量的恋爱关系可以为童年时期受到虐待的成年人提供矫正体验，从而减轻抑郁和社交焦虑的症状。