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Childhood maltreatment patterns and suicidal ideation: mediating roles of depression, hope, and expressive suppression

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Abstract

Childhood maltreatment has long-term negative effects on individuals’ physical and mental well-being, and may increase the risk for suicidal ideation. However, how different patterns of childhood maltreatment affect subsequent suicidal ideation and the underlying mediating mechanisms remain unclear, particularly among Chinese adolescents. This study used latent profile analysis to identify patterns of childhood maltreatment among adolescents and explored how these patterns predicted subsequent suicidal ideation via depression, hope, and expressive suppression. This study used a two-wave, 1-year longitudinal design and included 2156 adolescents (Mage = 13.97 years, SDage = 1.61 years; 49.6% females). We identified three patterns of childhood maltreatment: low maltreatment, high psychological neglect, and high maltreatment. Compared with the low maltreatment group, the high maltreatment group indirectly predicted subsequent suicidal ideation 1 year later via depression through hope and expressive suppression, whereas the direct effect on suicidal ideation was not significant. Compared with the low maltreatment group, the high psychological neglect group had a significant direct effect on subsequent suicidal ideation and indirectly predicted suicidal ideation through depression or hope. Identifying patterns of childhood maltreatment among adolescents will assist mental health workers in developing targeted interventions to effectively alleviate suicidal ideation.

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Data availability

The data and analysis code that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions collection for this study.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Research Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (20dz2260300).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Yingying Ye, Yifan Li, Zhengyi Liu & Xiao Zhou

  2. Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 311121, China

    Bo Chen & Rui Zhen

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Contributions

YY and XZ developed the study concept and design. YY, BC, RZ and XZ carried out testing and data collection. YY, BC, YL and ZL performed the data analysis and completed the manuscript with supervision from XZ and RZ. All authors approved the final version of the paper for submission.

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Correspondence to Xiao Zhou.

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Ye, Y., Chen, B., Zhen, R. et al. Childhood maltreatment patterns and suicidal ideation: mediating roles of depression, hope, and expressive suppression. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-024-02442-6

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