Childhood maltreatment reports in adult seasonal affective disorder: Associations with sleep disturbances, maladaptive cognitions, and brooding

Abstract

Background: Although childhood maltreatment has been studied in multiple psychopathologies, its role in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is unknown. The current study examined possible mediators of the relationship between retrospectively-reported childhood maltreatment and adult SAD symptom severity during a major depressive episode in winter.

Methods: Participants (N = 113), ages 18 to 65, completed measures of childhood maltreatment, SAD severity, sleep disturbances, ruminative brooding, and maladaptive cognitions. Mediation analyses testing the relationship between childhood maltreatment and SAD symptom severity via sleep and cognitive factors were conducted using PROCESS (Hayes, 2012).

Results: Mediation analyses suggested that insomnia, hypersomnia, brooding, and seasonal maladaptive beliefs may account for the association between childhood maltreatment and SAD symptom severity.

Limitations: Analyses were cross-sectional and should be interpreted with caution. Participants completed self-report childhood trauma measure retrospectively as adults.

Conclusion: The present study is the first to examine childhood maltreatment in SAD, a disorder commonly viewed with circadian etiology. Covariance between childhood maltreatment and SAD symptom severity is indirectly explained by sleep difficulties, cognitive factors, and brooding, which may suggest therapeutic targets if replicated in longitudinal or experimental manipulations of sleep and cognition.

Keywords: Brooding; Childhood Maltreatment; Hypersomnia; Insomnia; Seasonal Affective Disorder.