Interaction between anxiety symptoms and decreased meaning in life: One possible pathway linking childhood trauma and depression- evidence from the network analysis

Background: Robust evidence suggests that individuals exposed to childhood trauma are more vulnerable to suffering from later depression. However, the pathway connecting the experience of childhood trauma and depression remains unclear. Participants and settings: A total of 3663 participants from six colleges in China completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7, and Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale. Among all participants, 3115 (Mage = 19.20, SDage = 1.38, males = 1384) participants met the selective standard of suffering from childhood trauma and were divided into the traumatized depressed group (the DT group) (n = 1432, Mage = 19.26, males = 700) and traumatized non-depressed group (the UDT group) (n = 1683, Mage = 19.15, males = 684). Methods: In the present study, we examined the comorbidity of anxiety and the facets of meaning in the life network model. We then calculated the bridge symptoms and compared the networks of the DT group and the UDT group. Results: The results of the t-test showed that the DT group scored significantly higher on all symptoms of anxiety and significantly lower on all dimensions of meaning in life compared to the UDT group. Meanwhile, the strongest bridge exists between "Mattering" and "Restlessness" in the symptom network of the DT group, while there is no bridge in the symptom network of the UDT group. The result of NCT indicates that the global strength and the EI value of "Mattering" are significantly higher in the symptom network of the DT group than in the UDT group. Conclusion: Intervention targeting improving the self-esteem of individuals suffering from childhood trauma may help to alleviate their depression and anxiety symptoms.