Childhood sexual abuse and lifetime depressive symptoms: the importance of type and timing of childhood emotional maltreatment

• DOI: 10.1017/s003329172400268x
• Publication Date: 2024-12-02T09:26:43Z
• Authors: Lauren M. Hutson; Rotem Dan; Aliza R. Brown; Shiba M. Esfand; Valerie Ruberto; Emily Johns; Kaylee E. Null; Kyoko Ohashi; Alaptagin Khan; Fei Du; Martin H. Teicher; Diego A. Pizzagalli
• Keywords: Psychological abuse; Depression

Abstract Background Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and emotional maltreatment are salient risk factors for the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) in women. However, type- timing-specific effects experienced during adolescence on future symptomatology women with CSA have not been explored. The goal this study was to fill gap. Methods In total, 203 (ages 20–32) current symptoms (MDD/CSA), remitted (rMDD/CSA), without (MDD/no CSA) were recruited from community completed self-report measures. Depressive assessed using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) a detailed history collected Maltreatment Abuse Chronology Exposure (MACE). Differences exposure characteristics, including multiplicity severity maltreatment, as well chronologies subtypes compared among groups. A random forest machine-learning algorithm utilized assess impact at specific ages symptoms. Results MDD/CSA reported greater prevalence relative rMDD/CSA MDD/no [ F (2,196) = 9.33, p < 0.001], specifically 12 18. strongest predictor parental verbal age 18 both (variable importance [VI] 1.08, 0.006) (VI 0.68, 0.004). Conclusions Targeting late might prove beneficial intervention efforts MDD following CSA.