The associations between childhood trauma and work functioning in adult workers with and without depressive and anxiety disorders

Abstract

Background: To examine the association between childhood trauma and work functioning, and to elucidate to what extent this association can be accounted for by depression and/or anxiety. Methods: Data of 1,649 working participants were derived from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA, n = 2,981). Childhood trauma (emotional neglect, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse before age 16) was assessed with a structured interview and work functioning, in terms of absenteeism and presenteeism, with the Health and Labor Questionnaire Short Form (SF-HLQ) and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS-II), respectively. Depressive and/or anxiety disorders were assessed with the Composite Interview Diagnostic Instrument (CIDI). Mediation analyses were conducted. Results: At baseline, 44.8% reported to have experienced childhood trauma. Workers with the highest childhood trauma level showed significantly (p < 0.001) more absenteeism as well as more presenteeism. Mediation analyses revealed that indirect effects between the childhood trauma index and both work indices were significantly mediated by current depressive disorder (p = 0.023 and p < 0.001, respectively) and current comorbid depression-anxiety (p = 0.020 and p < 0.001, respectively), with the latter accounting for the largest effects (PM = 0.23 and PM = 0.29, respectively). No significant mediating role in this relationship was found for current anxiety disorder and remitted depressive and/or anxiety disorder. Conclusions: Persons with childhood trauma have significantly reduced work functioning in terms of absenteeism and presenteeism. This seems to be largely accounted for by current depressive disorders and current comorbid depression-anxiety.

Victimization in Childhood Influences Presenteeism in Adulthood via Mediation by Neuroticism and Perceived Job Stressors

“…24,25 Job stressors are a mediator among childhood parenting, resilience, neuroticism, and psychological and physical responses. 24,25 Taken together with the previous findings mentioned above regarding the associations among adverse stresses in childhood, including victimization, neuroticism, depression, and presenteeism, 1,2,6,21,22,[24][25][26] it can be assumed that childhood victimization influences neuroticism, job stressors, and presenteeism. However, these associations of childhood victimization with neuroticism, job stressors, and presenteeism have not yet been studied in detail.…”

“… 24 Although the association between neuroticism and job stress has been reported, very few studies before our recent study have reported the effects of childhood maltreatment or parenting experiences on job stress. 21 , 24 , 36 , 37 In addition, the mediation effect of neuroticism between childhood stress and depression has been reported in some studies, but only one study has reported its mediation effect between childhood stress and job stress. 1 , 2 , 6 , 24 , 26 The present study expanded the earlier finding of the mediation effect of neuroticism between childhood stress and job stress to subjects who experienced victimization in childhood.…”

“…However, there have been very few studies to date on this issue; ie, only one study reported that a higher level of childhood maltreatment showed more presenteeism in adult workers, and this association was mediated by current depressive disorder and current comorbid depression-anxiety. 21 Thus, the effects of victimization from peers in school and the community or neuroticism on presenteeism have not been reported to date.…”

Complex effects of childhood abuse, subjective social status, and trait anxiety on presenteeism in adult volunteers from the community

“…Few studies to date have investigated the association between childhood abuse and presenteeism. It was reported that a history of childhood abuse affects current presenteeism, and the association is mediated by depression and anxiety ( De Venter et al, 2020 ). Another study reported that experiences of childhood victimization from peers in school or the community affect current presenteeism through neuroticism and perceived job stressors ( Hashimoto et al, 2022 ).…”

Psychological Capital Mediating the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Alexithymia in Chinese Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…27 It has been shown that psychological capital can be exploited just like social resources; 27 thus, we considered that it could be one of the mechanisms that may be protective for alexithymia. The reason for this thought can be found in the literature; Dong et al found that childhood trauma was associated with psychological resilience, 28 while other studies showed that childhood trauma was related to depression 29 and suicidal ideation 30 and that it might indirectly confer vulnerability to stressful life events. 31 These results show that childhood trauma opposes three dimensions of psychological capital, namely, self-efficacy, hope, and optimism.…”