Background

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) contributes to depression in several populations. However, there is a significant lack of longitudinal research on depressive symptoms among sexually abused adolescents involved in Child Protection Services (CPS). Given the systemic challenges in CPS research, it is also unclear as to whether depressive symptoms vary according to CSA severity.

Objective

The research aimed to determine whether depressive symptoms increased over time and to assess whether CSA severity predicted the variation of change in depressive symptoms over time.

Participants and setting

The study included 135 sexually abused adolescents (M = 16.01, 71.9 % female) from the Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) Longitudinal Study who were involved in three densely populated urban CPS agencies in Ontario, Canada.

Methods

The project involved the collection of self-report questionnaires to be completed every six-months for three years. The questionnaires encompassed measures on psychological outcomes, selected resiliency factors, and abuse and neglect history. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) via mixed model analyses were used to estimate depressive symptom trajectories.

Results

We found that depressive symptoms significantly reduced over time (β. = −3.62, p < .001). Furthermore, the results showed that CSA severity significantly predicted depressive symptoms over time (β = 0.19, p < .001).

Conclusions

The findings contrast previous longitudinal research in community-based samples, suggesting a different trajectory for depressive symptoms among sexually abused adolescents involved in CPS. Moreover, the results reveal a strong association between depressive symptoms and CSA severity, further supporting early mental health screening practices.

中文翻译：

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参与儿童保护服务的性虐待青少年抑郁症状的纵向轨迹

背景

儿童期性虐待 (CSA) 会导致一些人群出现抑郁症。然而，在参与儿童保护服务 (CPS) 的性虐待青少年中，严重缺乏对抑郁症状的纵向研究。鉴于 CPS 研究中的系统性挑战，抑郁症状是否因 CSA 严重程度而异也尚不清楚。

客观的

该研究旨在确定抑郁症状是否会随着时间的推移而增加，并评估 CSA 的严重程度是否可以预测抑郁症状随时间变化的变化。

参与者和设置

该研究包括来自虐待和青少年途径 (MAP) 纵向研究的 135 名性虐待青少年（M  = 16.01，71.9% 女性），他们参与了加拿大安大略省三个人口稠密的城市 CPS 机构。

方法

该项目涉及收集自我报告问卷，每六个月完成一次，为期三年。问卷包括对心理结果、选定的复原力因素以及虐待和忽视历史的测量。通过混合模型分析的分层线性模型 (HLM) 用于估计抑郁症状轨迹。

结果

我们发现，随着时间的推移，抑郁症状显着减轻 ( β . = -3.62, p  < .001)。此外，结果表明 CSA 严重程度随着时间的推移显着预测抑郁症状 ( β  = 0.19, p  < .001)。

结论

这些发现与之前在社区样本中的纵向研究形成对比，表明参与 CPS 的性虐待青少年的抑郁症状轨迹不同。此外，结果显示抑郁症状与 CSA 严重程度之间存在密切关联，进一步支持早期心理健康筛查实践。