J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc JKNA Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association 1015-4817 Korean Neuropsychiatric Association 10.4306/jknpa.2013.52.5.334 Original Article The Role of Childhood Trauma on Early Maladaptive Schema Domain Kim Jae Ho MD Kim Ji Eun MD Won Seung Hee MD PhD Rim Hyo Deog MD PhD Kim Byung-Soo MD PhD Lee Seung Jae MD PhD Department of Psychiatry, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. Address for correspondence: Seung Jae Lee, MD, PhD. Department of Psychiatry, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, 680 Gukchaebosang-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu 700-842, Korea. Tel: +82-53-420-5752, Fax: +82-53-426-5361, jayleemd@knu.ac.kr 09 2013 30 09 2013 52 5 334 341 10 06 2013 29 07 2013 01 08 2013 Copyright © 2013 Korean Neuropsychiatric Association 2013 Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of childhood trauma on early maladaptive schema domains.

 Methods

A total of 305 graduate students completed the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form, the Korean version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (K-CTQ), and the Beck Depression Inventory.

 Results

According to the classification based on the total score of the K-CTQ, the group that experienced childhood trauma (n=41) showed higher scores than the group with no trauma (n=264) in all five schema domains. Subsequent multiple regression analyses revealed that four out of five schema domains were significantly explained by childhood trauma ; among them, childhood trauma was the most significant predictor of the Disconnection and Rejection schema domain, accounting for 15% of the total variance in this domain (F=8.1, p<0.001). In terms of the types of childhood trauma, emotional neglect had significant general effects on all schema domains except the Impaired Limits domain.

 Conclusion

These findings in a nonclinical sample support the notion that childhood traumatic experiences may significantly impact the maladaptive schema domains, particularly the Disconnection and Rejection schema domain. In addition, this study emphasized the diffuse impact of emotional neglect upon schema domains, which may be overlooked because of its implicit nature.

 Childhood trauma Schema Early maladaptive schema Young Schema Questionnaire

The authors have no financial conflicts of interest.

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Demographic, childhood trauma and schema domain data

Monthly income, high >6 million won, middle=2-6 million won, low <2 million won. *: Comparison between trauma and no trauma group using independent t-test or χ2 test. CTQ : Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, YSQ-SF : Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form, SD : Standard deviation

Pearson's correlations between schema domain and CTQ

*: p<0.05, **: p<0.01. CTQ : Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

Multiple regression analysis (enter method) for predicting the schema domain

*: p<0.05, **: p<0.01, †: R2=0.008 for Step 1 ; ΔR2=0.153 for Step 2 (p=0.309, p<0.001), ‡: R2=0.001 for Step 1 ; ΔR2=0.084 for Step 2 (p=0.875, p<0.001), §: R2=0.010 for Step 1 ; ΔR2=0.069 for Step 2 (p=0.228, p=0.001), ∥: R2=0.001 for Step 1 ; ΔR2=0.021 for Step 2 (not significant), : R2=0.003 for Step 1 ; ΔR2=0.071 for Step 2 (p=0.661, p=0.002)