Abstract

Objectives

We examine the associations between childhood mistreatment (emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional neglect) and older adults’ changes in depressive symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2018–June 2020).

Methods

Using a community-based sample of older adults in North Florida (N = 581), we used ordinary least-squares regression to estimate associations between childhood mistreatments and depressive symptoms in June 2020, controlling for baseline symptoms and demographic characteristics. Additional models tested whether emotion regulation and social support attenuated associations between childhood mistreatments and depressive symptoms.

Results

Older adults exposed to emotional neglect in childhood saw a greater increase in depressive symptoms than those who did not experience childhood mistreatment. Those reporting childhood physical abuse had higher baseline depressive symptoms, but they did not increase during the pandemic. These associations remained stable after controlling for emotion regulation and social support, coping resources thought to contribute to linkages between childhood mistreatment and psychological health in adulthood.

Conclusion

Childhood mistreatment might inform the psychological consequences of major stressors in later life. Thus, early life interventions for children experiencing mistreatment could be especially important for long-term psychological health outcomes and responses to major stressful events. Identifying older people with histories of childhood mistreatment could also help clinicians gauge patients’ risk of psychological decline during times such as the COVID-19 pandemic and tailor psychological health interventions.

中文翻译：

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童年虐待史和 COVID-19 对老年人的心理健康影响

摘要

目标

我们研究了从 COVID-19 大流行之前到期间（2018 年 9 月至 2020 年 6 月）儿童期虐待（情感虐待、身体虐待、性虐待和情感忽视）与老年人抑郁症状变化之间的关联。

方法

我们使用北佛罗里达州基于社区的老年人样本（N  = 581），使用普通最小二乘回归来估计 2020 年 6 月儿童虐待与抑郁症状之间的关联，同时控制基线症状和人口统计特征。其他模型测试了情绪调节和社会支持是否会减弱童年虐待与抑郁症状之间的关联。

结果

与那些没有经历过童年虐待的人相比，在童年时期受到情感忽视的老年人抑郁症状的增加更大。那些报告童年身体虐待的人有更高的基线抑郁症状，但在大流行期间并没有增加。在控制情绪调节和社会支持后，这些关联保持稳定，应对资源被认为有助于儿童虐待与成年后心理健康之间的联系。

结论

童年虐待可能会影响以后生活中主要压力源的心理后果。因此，对遭受虐待的儿童进行早期生活干预对于长期心理健康结果和对重大压力事件的反应尤为重要。识别有童年虐待史的老年人还可以帮助临床医生评估患者在 COVID-19 大流行等时期心理衰退的风险，并制定心理健康干预措施。