The mediating role of maladaptive intrapersonal-interpersonal schemas and avoidance between perception of childhood traumas and depression symptoms

The aim of this study was to determine the mediating role of maladaptive intrapersonal-interpersonal schemas and avoidance between the perception of childhood traumas and depression.

The research method was a descriptive correlational study using correlation. The statistical population was the students of Islamic Azad University (Shahryar and Quds branches) who were studying in the academic year of 2020-2021. 489 students were selected using the available sampling method from this population. Data were collected using Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Early Maladaptive Schemas Questionnaire (SQ-SF), the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ), the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and structural equation analysis (SEM) with SPSS26 and AMOS22 software, respectively.

The results showed that intrapersonal schemas play a mediating role between childhood traumas (neglect and abuse) and depression (p<0.05). Also, childhood neglect and abuse predicted depression through the mediation of two schema (intrapersonal and interpersonal) and avoidance variables (p<0.05). In this study, the mediation of interpersonal schemas between childhood traumas and depression was not significant (p < 0.05) and only predict depression through avoidance (p<0.05).

In this study, the mediating role of intrapersonal schemas between childhood traumas and depression was confirmed, while the interpersonal schema only predicted depression through avoidance. Therefore, in order to treatment of depression, it seems necessary to focus on schemas especially intrapersonal schemas and cognitive-behavioral manipulation such as cognitive and behavioral avoidance.