School of Criminology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada; Centre for Studies on Human Stress, Research Center of the Montreal Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Canada. Electronic address: isabelle.ouellet-morin@umontreal.ca.
BACKGROUND: Converging evidence suggests that maltreated children suffer from depression at an early age and experience recurrent episodes of depression that persist over longer periods of time. However, the stress-related mechanisms hypothesized to be implicated in these associations remain to be specified. The present study tested the mediating and moderating roles of acute cortisol response to stress and coping strategies in the association between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms in early adulthood.
METHODS: Data from 156 men aged 18 to 35 years (n = 56 maltreated) were collected using self-reported questionnaires assessing child maltreatment, depressive symptomatology and coping strategies. Cortisol was measured in response to the "Trier Social Stress Test" (TSST).
RESULTS: Although acute cortisol response to stress did not mediate the maltreatment-depressive symptoms association, a moderation effect was found. Child maltreatment was associated with higher risk of depressive symptoms among participants with a higher cortisol response to stress, but not for those with moderate-to-lower cortisol responses. Additionally, maltreated participants reported more depressive symptoms, an association that was partly explained by their higher use of emotion-oriented coping (mediation). Finally, maltreated individuals who reported using less task-oriented coping had greater depressive symptomatology than those who adopted this coping strategy more frequently (moderation).
CONCLUSION: These findings extend prior work examining the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in the etiology of depression. The results draw attention to coping strategies, in addition to acute cortisol response to stress, as potential targets for mitigating the onset of depressive symptoms in adults maltreated as children.