Poster #83 - Childhood Abuse, Life Satisfaction, Depression, and Natural Mentors: Findings from Add Health

• In Event: Poster Session 03

Abstract

Childhood abuse negatively affects life satisfaction and can contribute to depression in adulthood (Herrenkohl et al., 2012; Nurius et al., 2015). Emerging research on the protective impacts of positive childhood experiences suggests that safe, stable, and supportive relationships, such as those between young people and teachers, neighbors, and peers, may mitigate the negative long-term impacts of abuse on health and well-being (Narayan et al., 2021). However, little is known about the role of natural mentors (caring, nonparental adults) in the lives of individuals who have been exposed to childhood abuse. Therefore, the current study focuses on the relationship between childhood abuse and depression in adulthood through life satisfaction and whether that is contingent on having a natural mentor. We hypothesized children with a natural mentor compared to children without a natural mentor would report less negative effects of childhood abuse on life satisfaction and subsequently less depression symptoms. Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; n=15,139). The current study relies on data collected from participants (through adolescence and the transition to adulthood) during Wave I, III, and IV. Demographics were collected at Wave I. At Wave III, participants were asked if they had a natural mentor during childhood, experienced caregiver neglect, physical and sexual abuse during childhood, and current life satisfaction. At Wave IV, participants completed the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Andresen et al., 1993). Using multigroup analysis, we examined if life satisfaction mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and depression symptoms for children who had a natural mentor versus those who did not. Mentored children were less negatively affected by neglect and sexual abuse compared to those who were not mentored. Moreover, mentored children’s reports of depression symptoms were less strongly predicted by neglect and sexual abuse. However, this pattern did not hold with childhood physical abuse, contrary to our hypotheses. In fact, mentored children’s experiences with childhood physical abuse more strongly predicted lower quality of life and depression symptoms. Our findings highlight the presence of inconsistent effects of having a natural mentor as a viable prevention tool in children’s well-being. More research is needed to understand the interaction between supportive relationships and childhood abuse.

Authors

• Savannah B Simpson, University of South Carolina
  Presenting Author

• Amanda Lynn Davis, University of South Carolina

• Bailey R Dow, University of South Carolina

• Sam McQuillin, University of South Carolina