Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Subsequent Affective Symptoms Among Chinese Male Drug Users: The Roles of Impulsivity and Psychological Resilience

Abstract

Objective: Childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) has been widely linked to later affective symptoms.What still remains inadequately understood are the potential nuanced differences in the consequences of childhood emotional abuse (CEM-A) versus childhood emotional neglect (CEM-N) and the implicated mechanisms. Research with non-Western, clinical samples also remains scarce. Thus, we examined the associations of CEMA and CEM-N with later affective symptoms among Chinese male drug users and tested impulsivity and psychological resilience as potential mediators and moderators. Method: Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted with survey data obtained from 239 Chinese male adult drug users who were in a rehabilitation center. Results: The mediating rather than the moderating hypotheses were supported. CEM-A was found to be positively associated with subsequent depressive and anxious symptoms through a positive association with impulsivity. In contrast, CEM-Nwas positively associated onlywith subsequent depressive symptoms via a negative association with psychological resilience. In addition, CEM-A was also found to be directly associated with later depressive and anxious symptoms. Conclusions: CEMmay pose a threat to later affective well-being partly through contributing to intrapersonal vulnerabilities as well as compromising intrapersonal strengths. Differentiating CEM-A and CEM-N appears to be critical for revealing the understudied specificity and nuance that may be inherently within such effects. Drug use treatment services should sensitively attend to the affective sequelae of CEM. Interventions targeted at the modification of impulsivity and the facilitation of psychological resiliencemay be effective in diminishing the affective consequences of CEMamong drug users