Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect on Trauma and Depression: Exploring Buffering Opportunities

Background and purpose:

Trauma has been increasingly documented as highly prevalent in childhood and adolescence, resulting in a higher likelihood of future psychopathology, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), oftentimes stemming from earlier experiences of stressors.  Children involved in the child welfare system (CWS) have all experienced trauma, merely due to indicated or substantiated maltreatment allegations.  Whereas, children in the general population are subjected to traumatic events, maltreated children lack the supportive buffers to remain resilient as they cope with certain challenges, which likely results in internalized stress reactions related to depressive symptoms.  However, little research has identified reliable buffers of these effects to inform secondary prevention of trauma induced depressive symptomology among CWS-involved children stemming from specific types of maltreatment (e.g. supervisory, physical and emotional neglect).  Trauma informed research is paramount and requires assessments of perceived relational processes in context, such as the quality of communication and perceived closeness with teachers and caregivers.  This work fills this gap with an inquiry of the role of these types of maltreatment in the development of traumatic stress (TS) and depression among CSW-involved children, with consideration of key relational closeness as possible moderators.

Methods:

Our research uses longitudinal data from three waves of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II) comprised of youth (N= 5,873) interfacing with CWS. We tested a developmental model examining depression and TS (based on Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) as a function of three types of neglect (supervisory, physical and emotional) while identifying moderators that mitigate negative effects. Using Mplus software, we implemented structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to highlight the complexities of relationships among a set of pertinent endogenous variables.  We assessed children (aged 10-17) in an effort to identify a meaningful path between types of neglect and TS, resulting in depressive symptoms.  We further analyzed the impact of ‘closeness to teachers’ and ‘communication with caregivers’ as a moderating link between neglect types and traumatic stress.

Results:

Trauma mediated depressogenic effects of the included types of child neglect (supervisory, physical, and emotional).  The experience of trauma among children neglected in these ways indicates a direct link to depression over time.  Further, the effects of the neglect variables on TS were buffered by children’s reports of heightened perceptions of closeness to teachers at school and the quality of communication with their current caregivers.  Based on clear and significant identified paths, our findings suggest a detrimental effect of previous neglect on future depression among CWS-involved children.  Trauma mediates this relationship, yet the path between neglect and trauma is moderated by positive involvement with teachers and current caregivers. 

Implications for Practice:

This study emphasizes the deleterious effects of pervasive trauma on the internalized stress reactions among neglected children. Future studies and intervention strategies should expand on these findings and address the prevalent traits of neglect, such as poverty in an effort to possibly mitigate poor mental health outcomes based on levels of experiential trauma and strong relationships important adults in their lives.