We hypothesized that the formation of malevolent introjects undermines the development of self-compassion, which in turn produces greater feelings of shame. We hypothesized that these feelings of shame account for concurrent depressive symptoms in adulthood. To test these hypotheses, we proposed a multiple mediator mediation model in which our independent variable was childhood maltreatment. We modeled child maltreatment as negatively predicting our first mediator, self-compassion, which in turn positively predicted internalized shame. We modeled internalized shame as positively predicting scores on our dependent variable, adult depressive symptoms. Participants were 158 adults fluent in English who were community members and college students living in a southwestern American metroplex. The model accounted for 61.8% of the variance in depressive symptoms in adulthood. A significant indirect effect from child maltreatment passed through both our mediators and ended in depressive symptoms in adulthood. We discuss limitations and theoretical and clinical implications, and future directions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1157627 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Ross, Nicholas Dutra |
| Contributors | Kaminski, Patricia L., Riggs, Shelley A., Jenkins, Sharon R., Watkins, Clifton E. |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | v, 63 pages, Text |
| Rights | Public, Ross, Nicholas Dutra, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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