Do Adult Attachment Style or Personality Mediate the Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment and Late-Life Depression in Poor Communities?

Objective Childhood maltreatment is associated with late-life depression. Preliminary evidence indicates that personality characteristics, in particular neuroticism and extroversion, and an anxious attachment style mediate this association. The objective is to evaluate 3 models, in which personality...

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Published inJournal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 246 - 253
Main Authors Gomes Jardim, Gabriel Behr, Gomes, Irenio, Mehdi, Gholam, Ranjbar, Setareh, Engroff, Paula, Santos, Milena Antunes, Neto, Alfredo Cataldo, von Gunten, Armin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2023
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Summary:Objective Childhood maltreatment is associated with late-life depression. Preliminary evidence indicates that personality characteristics, in particular neuroticism and extroversion, and an anxious attachment style mediate this association. The objective is to evaluate 3 models, in which personality and attachment are considered mediators between childhood maltreatment and late-life depression in a socioeconomically disadvantaged Brazilian population. Methods This study included participants (n = 260) from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, Brazil, who completed measures of childhood maltreatment (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire – CTQ), personality characteristics (NEO-Five Factor Inventory), attachment styles (Relationship Scales Questionnaire), and geriatric depression (Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview-Plus). General multiple and sequential mediation analyses were used to test for possible associations. Results Attachment anxiety but not attachment avoidance is a mediator between childhood maltreatment and geriatric depression. Neuroticism is a full mediator. At that, attachment anxiety was found to be a predictor of neuroticism. Finally, sequential mediation analysis shows a path from childhood maltreatment to geriatric depression through attachment anxiety and neuroticism. Conclusions The results suggest a pathway from childhood maltreatment to anxious attachment, which in turn predicts higher neuroticism that itself may favor late-life depression. This hypothesis could have implications for older adults living in low socioeconomic settings in that treating the high-risk group of maltreated children may help prevent late-life depression.
ISSN:0891-9887
1552-5708
DOI:10.1177/08919887221119979