The mediating role of posttraumatic stress reactions in the relationship between child abuse and physical health complaints in adolescence and young adulthood

Figures & data

Figure 1. N = 1009. The average direct effect of child abuse on physical health complaints and the average causal mediation effect linking PTSR to physical health complaints (value of ρ ≤ 0.56).

Table 1. Average direct effects (ADE) of child abuse types on physical health complaints, with the corresponding average causal mediating effects (ACME) linking PTSR to physical health complaints. The model is adjusted for age, sex and ethnicity.

		Average direct effect (ADE)			Average causal mediation effect (ACME)
Child abuse type	n	Estimate	95%CI	p	Estimate	95%CI	p	Total effect	Proportion mediated (%)
All physically abused	267	0.00	−0.05, 0.06	0.968	0.14	0.11,0.19	<0.001	0.14	99.7
-Only physically abused	118	−0.06	−0.11, −0.01	0.018	0.03	0.00,0.07	0.047	−0.03	^a
All sexually abused	195	0.07	0.00, 0.15	0.040	0.20	0.15,0.26	<0.001	0.28	73.0
-Only sexually abused	100	0.09	0.01, 0.18	0.027	0.11	0.06,0.19	<0.001	0.21	54.9
All emotionally abused	158	0.12	0.04, 0.21	0.005	0.22	0.16,0.29	<0.001	0.34	65.4
-Only emotionally abused	37	0.15	0.01, 0.31	0.045	0.13	0.06,0.24	<0.001	0.28	46.6
All neglected subjects	109	0.00	−0.08, 0.09	0.950	0.23	0.16,0.33	<0.001	0.24	98.5
-Only neglected subjects	32	−0.08	−0.17, 0.05	0.180	0.06	−0.01,0.15	0.085	−0.02	^a
All subjects witnessing parental IPV	98	0.05	−0.04, 0.14	0.290	0.20	0.13,0.27	<0.001	0.80	79.7
-Only subjects witnessing parental IPV	20	0.14	0.01, 0.28	0.040	0.06	0.01,0.14	0.036	0.20	30.7

^aPercentages are not shown because the estimates of the direct (ADE) and indirect (ACME) pathways have different signs, so the interpretation of percentages has no value.