Relationship between childhood maltreatment and depression symptoms among 1 417 junior high school students

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depression in junior high school students. MethodsA total of 1 417 junior high school students from the 7th,8th and 9th grade of three public schools were selected with cluster sampling in Huoqiu country and depressive symptoms,childhood maltreatment experience and general demographic were surveyed with Self-Rating Depression Scale and a self-designed questionnaire. ResultsThe detection rate of depressive symptoms was 61.3% in the students.The detection rate was higher among the girls,students of 8th grades,and non-only-child students than among the boys,students of other grade and only-child students,with statistically significant differences(P<0.05 for all).The detection rate was inversely related to the intimacy to parents and academic records of the students(P<0.001).The detection rate of depression among the students with repeated childhood maltreatment was higher than among the student without the experience,with a significant difference(P<0.05).Repeated serious physical abuse,moderate physical abuse,emotional abuse,contact sexual abuse,and non-contact sexual abuse in childhood were positivedly correlated to depression among the students,with the odds ratios of 1.989,1.436,1.698,2.834,and 2.235,respectively. ConclusionRepeated maltreatment in childhood is a risk factor of adolescent depression.