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Relationship between childhood maltreatment and geriatric depression: the mediator effect of personality traits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2019

Gabriel Behr Gomes Jardim*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geriatria e Gerontologia - IGG, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS, Brazil
Armin von Gunten
Affiliation:
Service Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l’Age Avance - SUPAA, University of Lausanne - UNIL, Switzerland
Irenio Gomes da Silva Filho
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geriatria e Gerontologia - IGG, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS, Brazil
Patricia Klarmann Ziegelmann
Affiliation:
PPG Epidemiologia e Departamento de Estatística da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS, Brazil
Daniela Benzano Bumaguin
Affiliation:
PPG Epidemiologia e Departamento de Estatística da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS, Brazil
Eduardo Lopes Nogueira
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geriatria e Gerontologia - IGG, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS, Brazil
Paula Engroff
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geriatria e Gerontologia - IGG, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS, Brazil
Alfredo Cataldo Neto
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geriatria e Gerontologia - IGG, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS, Brazil Núcleo Específico de Formação em Psiquiatria, Escola de Medicina da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Gabriel Behr Gomes Jardim, Instituto de Geriatria e Gerontologia - IGG, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – PUCRS, Avenida Ipiranga 6681/703, Porto Alegre/RS, CEP: 90619–900, Brazil. Phone: +55 51 33536031. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

Background:

Childhood maltreatment is an important factor associated with adverse mental health outcomes including geriatric depression and the “big five” personality characteristics. The objective of this study was to evaluate a model where personality characteristics mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and geriatric depression.

Method:

In this cross-sectional study, elderly subjects from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, Brazil (n = 260) completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0 (MINI plus). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the mediation hypothesis.

Results:

The five personality factors (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness) were related to childhood maltreatment and depression. Mediation analysis revealed that neuroticism and extraversion are complete mediators, agreeableness and conscientiousness are partial mediators, and openness is not a mediator.

Conclusions:

These findings support the hypothesis in which childhood maltreatment is associated with geriatric depression and mediated by personality factors. These results suggest that reducing the maladaptive personality trait in elderly people who suffered childhood maltreatment could prevent geriatric depression.

Type
Original Research Article
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2019 

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