Social Support and Positive Coping Skills As Mediators Buffering the Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Psychological Distress and Positive Mental Health in Adulthood: Analysis of a National Population-Based Sample

There is little research on how childhood maltreatment influences the use of resilience mechanisms that are key to mental health outcomes in the face of adversity. We assessed the mediating roles of social support and positive coping skills in the relationships between childhood maltreatment and both psychological distress and positive mental health. We analyzed data from a national population survey, the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (CCHS-MH 2012, n = 25,113). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to model the relationships between childhood maltreatment, social support, and positive coping skills and their direct and mediated effect on psychological distress and positive mental health. Childhood maltreatment was found to be negatively associated with social support, positive coping skills, and positive mental health but positively associated with psychological distress. Social support and positive coping skills predicted higher rates of positive mental health but lower rates of psychological distress. Social support and positive coping skills partially mediated the negative consequences of childhood maltreatment on mental health outcomes. Surprisingly, no sex differences were observed among these associations. This research clearly demonstrates that social support and positive coping skills can mediate the negative impact of childhood maltreatment on mental health.