Complex effects of childhood abuse, affective temperament, and subjective social status on depressive symptoms of adult volunteers from the community

Figures & data

Figure 1 Results of covariance structure analysis of the structural equation model with the childhood abuse subscale on child abuse and trauma (childhood abuse), subjective social status score (SSS), and the score of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), as well as depressive symptoms (PHQ-9) in 404 adult volunteers from the community. Rectangles indicate the observed variables, some of which are associated with the latent variable, which is shown as an oval. The arrows with solid lines represent the statistically significant paths, and the broken lines show the nonsignificant paths. The numbers beside the arrows show the direct standardized path coefficients (minimum: –1; maximum: +1), but indirect effects through variables are shown in the Results section. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table 1 Characteristics of the study subjects and correlation with or effects on PHQ-9

Characteristic or measure	Value (number or mean ± SD)	Correlation with PHQ-9 (r) or effect on PHQ-9 (mean ± SD of PHQ-9 scores, t-test)
Age	42.3 ± 11.9	r = −0.14**
Sex (men:female)	220: 184	Men 2.9 ± 3.6 vs women 3.8 ± 4.1* (t-test)
Education (years)	15.2 ± 2.0	r = −0.05, n.s.
Employment status (employed:nonemployed)	341: 56	Employed 3.3 ± 3.8 vs nonemployed 3.6 ± 4.4, n.s. (t-test)
Marital status (married:single)	286 : 115	Married 3.0 ± 3.7 vs single 4.0 ± 4.1* (t-test)
Living-alone (yes:no)	102: 294	Yes 3.6 ± 4.2 vs no 3.1 ± 3.7, n.s. (t-test)
Number of offspring	1.30 ± 1.16	r = −0.05, n.s.
Comorbidity of physical disease (yes:no)	83: 317	Yes 3.9 ± 4.1 vs no 3.1 ± 3.7, n.s. (t-test)
First-degree relative with psychiatric disease (yes:no)	40: 362	Yes 3.8 ± 4.4 vs no 3.3 ± 3.8, n.s. (t-test)
PHQ-9 summary score	3.3 ± 3.8
CATS (average score)
Sexual abuse	0.05 ± 0.22	r = 0.11 *
Neglect	0.61 ± 0.58	r = 0.35 **
Punishment	1.41 ± 0.62	r = 0.19 **
Total	0.65 ± 0.43	r = 0.32 **
TEMPS-A (average score)
Depressive	1.36 ± 0.16	r = 0.42 **
Cyclothymic	1.20 ± 0.18	r = 0.51 **
Hyperthymic	1.27 ± 0.18	r = −0.18 **
Anxious	1.19 ± 0.18	r = 0.56 **
Irritable	1.14 ± 0.15	r = 0.37 **
Subjective social status	4.9 ± 1.5	r = 0.14 **

Notes: Data presented as means  ±  SD or numbers. r = Pearson’s correlation coefficient. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. t-test refers to Student's t-test.

Abbreviations: PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9; CATS, Child Abuse and Trauma Scale; TEMPS-A, Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego-autoquestionnaire version; n.s., not significant.

Table 2 Results of stepwise multiple regression analysis of PHQ-9

Positive variable selected	Beta	p-value	VIF
Age	−0.100	0.016	1.062
Employment status	0.096	0.022	1.061
Cyclothymic	0.278	< 0.001	1.656
Hyperthymic	−0.189	< 0.001	1.067
Anxious	0.323	< 0.001	1.639
CATS (neglect)	0.119	< 0.001	1.268
Adjusted R^2=0.401	F=41.187	< 0.001

Notes: Dependent factor: PHQ-9 summary score. Independent factors: age, sex (men = 0, women = 1), education years, employment status (nonemployed = 0, employed = 1), current marital status (unmarried = 0, married = 1), living alone (no = 0, yes = 1), number of offspring, comorbidity of physical disease (no = 0, yes = 1), first-degree relative with psychiatric disease (no = 0, yes = 1), sexual abuse, neglect, and punishment scores of CATS, depressive, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, anxious, and irritable temperament scores of TEMPS-A and SSS score.

Abbreviations: Beta, standardized partial regression coefficient; VIF, variance inflation factor; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9; SSS, subjective social status; TEMPS-A, Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego-autoquestionnaire; CATS, Child Abuse and Trauma Scale.