Relationship between Childhood Psychological Maltreatment, Resilience, Depression, and Negative Self-concept

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of resilience in the relationships between childhood psychological maltreatment, depression and negative self-concept in adulthood.

Method: The sample included 320 adulthood living in Isparta, Turkey. Participants were 65.9% (n= 211) female, 34.1% (n= 109) male. The ages of the participants ranged between 20 and 39. The mean of ages was 24.62±3.93. Participants completed Brief Symptom Inventory, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and Adult Resilience Measure.

Results: Results of analysis indicated that childhood psychological maltreatment directly predicted resilience, negative self-concept and depression in adulthood. Results also showed that childhood psychological maltreatment indirectly predicted negative self-concept and depression by mediated resilience.

Conclusions: Results of the study showed that resilience has a partial mediating role in the relationship between psychological maltreatment-negative self-concept and psychological maltreatment-depression. Therefore, study results are very important on understanding the protective role of resilience in the relationship among these variables.