Association between childhood parental rearing, sexual partnerships, social support and posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) among young HIV-positive MSM

ABSTRACT

We aimed to assess the effect of childhood parental rearing on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among young HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM), as well as the mediation effect of social support on this association. A convenient sampling method and questionnaire-based survey were used to recruit eligible participants from the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center from 20 December 2018 to 28 February 2019. Bivariate analyses were used to investigate the correlations between PTSD and childhood parental rearing, the number of sexual partners and social support. Mediation analyses were used to investigate the mediation of social support. Totally, 142 eligible MSM participated in our study, with prevalence of PTSD being 33.10%. It was found that maternal warmth (M1) and maternal favoring (M5) were positively correlated with social support. Paternal rejection (F5) was positively correlated with PTSD. The effects of M1 and M5 on PTSD were completely mediated by social support. The effects of paternal favoring (F4) and M5 on PTSD were completely mediated by subjective social support, and the effects of F5 and M1 were completely mediated by social support utility. Social support was an important mediator between parental rearing and PTSD.

KEYWORDS:

• childhood parental rearing styles
• post-traumatic disorder
• social support

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from Research Project of the Health and Family Planning Commission of Wuhan Municipality [Grant Numbers: WG16B02]. The sponsors had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, as well as writing or revisions of the report.

Besides, we are very appreciated for the workers from Wuhan Medical Treatment Center for their support in patient recruitment.

Disclosure statement

No conflicting interests exist for anyone of all authors.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

The study was ethically approved by Chinese clinical Trail Registry (ChiCTR) (Registration number: ChiCTR1800020357) on December 25th, 2018. Informed consent were obtained from participants who agreed to participate in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from Research Project of the Health and Family Planning Commission of Wuhan Municipality [grant number WG16B02].