Effects of childhood trauma on the symptom-level relation between depression, anxiety, stress, and problematic smartphone use: A network analysis

Background: Childhood trauma experience is closely associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and problematic smartphone use (PSU). However, few studies have explored the complex symptom-level relations between these variables among people with and without trauma experiences, leaving a gap in treating and alleviating these mental disorders among individuals with childhood trauma.

Methods: The current study used a convenience sampling method and recruited 2708 participants who completed Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21), and Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale (MPATS), dividing them into trauma (n = 1454, Mean _age = 19.67) and no-trauma (n = 1254, Mean _age = 19.57) groups according to the cut-off scores of CTQ-SF. Symptom network analysis and network comparison test were conducted to construct and compare the network models between trauma and no-trauma groups.

Results: The findings indicate that the trauma group and females exhibit greater average levels of DASS-21 and PSU symptoms compared to the no-trauma group and males, respectively. Additionally, the edge between "Stress" and "Anxiety" is the strongest across trauma and no-trauma groups. "Social comfort" is a bridge symptom of the trauma group network and the results of bridge symptoms in the no-trauma group are not stable.

Limitations: This study did not categorize all individuals according to specific types of trauma experiences and it is a cross-sectional design. The prevalences calculated in this study may not be generalizable.

Conclusions: Interventions targeting different bridge symptoms in the trauma and no-trauma network models may help reduce the severity of symptoms.