The Association Between Childhood Trauma and Prodromal Psychotic Symptoms in Nursing Undergraduates: Mediating Roles of Depression and Anxiety

AI Summary

26.6% prevalence of prodromal psychotic symptoms among nursing undergraduates.
Physical and sexual childhood abuse associated with prodromal symptoms, with depression and anxiety mediating about 49% of the effect.
Findings suggest interventions targeting negative emotions, but cross sectional design, single institution and self report measures limit causal inference.

J Multidiscip Healthc. 2026 Jun 3;19:617713. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S617713. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma is associated with mental health, and nursing undergraduates who exhibit prodromal psychotic symptoms may be more vulnerable to the effects of childhood trauma. This study aims to investigate the mediating role of depression and anxiety in the relationship between childhood trauma and prodromal psychotic symptoms among undergraduate nursing students.

METHODS: We conducted a questionnaire survey among nursing undergraduates at Nantong University, China from December 25 to 29, 2024. General information, Childhood trauma questionnaire-short form (CTQ-SF), Prodromal questionnaire-brief version (PQ-B), Depression, anxiety, and stress scales (DASS-21) were used for survey. Pearson correlation analysis and mediation effect test were used to analyze the correlation and effect.

RESULTS: A total of 271 valid questionnaires were collected. The prevalence of prodromal psychotic symptoms in nursing undergraduates was 26.6%. The overall score of prodromal psychotic symptoms showed a positive correlation with both the total score and dimensions of CTQ-SF and DASS-21 (P<0.05). Only physical abuse and sexual abuse showed significant mediating pathways. Specifically, depression and anxiety mediated the association between physical abuse and prodromal psychotic symptoms, the indirect pathway accounted for 49.53% of the total association. Depression and anxiety mediated the association between sexual abuse and prodromal psychotic symptoms, the indirect pathway accounted for 49.01% of the total association.

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest potential pathways that may inform future intervention strategies to reduce prodromal psychotic symptoms and improve negative emotions in nursing undergraduates, especially those with childhood traumatic experiences. However, causal inferences cannot be drawn due to the cross-sectional design. Limitations include the single-institution sample and reliance on self-report measures.

PMID:42261568 | PMC:PMC13242806 | DOI:10.2147/JMDH.S617713

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