Associations and Additive Interaction of Childhood Trauma and Psychological Resilience With Depression Among Vocational College Students

Abstract

Background: To observe the effects of childhood trauma and psychological resilience on depression in vocational college students, as well as their additive and interactive effects.

Methods: From November 2023 to November 2024, 992 college students from a higher vocational and technical college in Shaoxing were selected using cluster sampling. An online survey was conducted using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF). According to the presence or absence of depressive symptoms, the students were divided into a depressive symptom group and a non-depressive group. CTQ-SF scores, CD RISC-10 scores, and general characteristics of were compared between the two groups to analyse factors associated with depressive symptoms among higher vocational college students. The additive interaction between CTQ-SF and CD-RISC-10 scores in relation to depressive symptoms was also analysed.

Results: Among the 992 vocational college students, the incidence of depressive symptoms was 19.86% (197/992). The CTQ-SF score was higher in the depressive symptom group than in the non-depressive group (p < 0.05), and the CD-RISC-10 score was lower in the depressive symptom group than in the non-depressive group (p< 0.05). The depressive symptom group was older than the non-depressive symptom group and had higher proportions of students with monthly living expenses <1000 yuan, average or poor relationships with classmates, and divorced or widowed parents (p < 0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio (OR) = 1.179, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.072–1.295), average or poor relationships with classmates (OR =3.197, 95% CI: 2.038–5.015), and having divorced or widowed parents (OR = 3.208, 95% CI: 1.788–5.756) were risk factors for depressive symptoms among vocational college students (p < 0.05). Monthly living expenses (OR = 0.264, 95% CI: 0.168–0.416), sexual orientation (OR = 0.740, 95% CI: 0.551–0.993), and CD-RISC-10 score (OR = 0.306, 95% CI: 0.187–0.502) were protective factors for depression symptoms among vocational college students (p < 0.05). The additive interaction analysis yielded relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) =–0.001, attributable proportion due to interaction (AP) =–0.002, and synergy index (S) = 1.003, indicating no additive interaction between CTQ-SF and CD-RISC-10 scores in relation to depressive symptoms among vocational college students.

Conclusions: CTQ-SF and CD-RISC-10 scores showed no additive interaction in relation to depressive symptoms among vocational college students.