Unpacking the Specific Associations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Depressive Symptoms among the Middle-Aged and Elderly Chinese Populations: A Dimensional Approach and Latent Class Analysis in a Cohort Study
Table 2
Baseline participant characteristics according to future depressive symptoms.
Variables
Characteristic
Overall (), (%)
Depression symptoms during follow-up
value
No depression (), (%)
Depression (), (%)
Age (mean (SD))
—
56.48 (7.85)
56.57 (7.92)
56.37 (7.74)
0.439
Sex
Male
2119 (53.3)
1370 (59.0)
749 (45.2)
<0.001
Female
1856 (46.6)
953 (41.0)
903 (54.5)
Unsafe community dwelling
Yes
245 (6.2)
119 (5.1)
126 (7.6)
0.002
Peer bullying
Yes
394 (9.9)
185 (8.0)
209 (12.6)
<0.001
Female guardian physical abuse
Yes
889 (22.3)
462 (19.9)
427 (25.8)
<0.001
Male guardian physical abuse
Yes
640 (16.1)
350 (5.1)
290 (17.5)
0.043
Being beaten by siblings
Yes
204 (5.1)
98 (4.2)
106 (6.4)
0.003
Parents often quarreling
Yes
803 (20.2)
406 (17.5)
397 (24.0)
<0.001
Biological mother’s absence
Yes
121 (3.0)
64 (2.8)
57 (3.4)
0.250
Biological father’s absence
Yes
138 (3.5)
81 (3.5)
57 (3.4)
1.000
Food scarcity
Yes
2713 (68.2)
1527 (65.7)
1186 (71.6)
<0.001
Poor household economic condition
Yes
1335 (33.6)
705 (30.3)
630 (38.0)
<0.001
Loneliness
Yes
335 (8.4)
142 (6.1)
193 (11.7)
<0.001
Absence of watching over from female guardian
Yes
861 (21.6)
472 (20.3)
389 (23.5)
0.018
Absence of love from female guardian
Yes
738 (18.5)
423 (18.2)
315 (19.0)
0.543
Mother being hit by the father
Yes
282 (7.1)
130 (5.6)
152 (9.2)
<0.001
Father being hit by the mother
Yes
44 (1.1)
19 (0.8)
25 (1.5)
0.057
Age group (years)
45-59
2640 (66.3)
1519 (65.4)
1121 (67.7)
0.138
≥60
1339 (33.7)
804 (34.6)
535 (32.3)
Marital status
Married
3576 (89.9)
2102 (90.5)
1474 (89.0)
0.187
Separated
148 (3.8)
86 (2.2)
62 (1.6)
Never married/divorced/widowed/
255 (6.4)
135 (3.4)
120 (3.0)
Education
Elementary school or below
2208 (55.5)
1165 (50.2)
1043 (63.0)
<0.001
Middle/high/vocational school
1674 (42.1)
1076 (46.3)
598 (36.1)
Equal or more than associate degree
96 (2.4)
82 (3.5)
14 (0.8)
Hukou
Agricultural
3077 (77.4)
1703 (73.3)
1374 (83.0)
<0.001
Nonagricultural
867 (21.8)
596 (25.7)
271 (16.4)
Unified residence
34 (0.9)
23 (1.0)
11 (0.7)
Chronic disease
No
1558 (39.2)
999 (43.0)
559 (33.8)
<0.001
Yes
2378 (59.8)
1299 (55.9)
1079 (65.2)
Smoking status
Nonsmoker
2316 (58.2)
1287 (55.4)
1029 (62.1)
<0.001
Ex-smoker
332 (8.3)
201 (8.7)
131 (7.9)
Smoker
1331 (33.5)
835 (35.9)
496 (30.0)
Drinking status
≥1 time/month
1164 (29.3)
741 (31.9)
423 (25.5)
<0.001
<1 time/month
339 (8.5)
208 (9.0)
131 (7.9)
Nondrinker
2476 (62.2)
1374 (59.1)
1102 (66.5)
Life satisfaction
Satisfied
1006 (27.0)
664 (30.0)
342 (22.6)
<0.001
Somewhat satisfied
2458 (65.9)
1447 (65.3)
1011 (66.8)
Dissatisfied
264 (7.1)
104 (4.7)
160 (10.6)
Household income (yuan/year)
<27600
1983 (50)
1082 (46.7)
901 (54.6)
<0.001
≥27600
1984 (50)
1234 (53.3)
750 (45.4)
Total ACE score
0
394 (9.9)
262 (11.3)
132 (8.0)
<0.001
1
961 (24.2)
607 (26.1)
354 (21.4)
2
979 (24.6)
616 (26.5)
363 (21.9)
≥3
1645 (41.3)
838 (36.1)
807 (48.7)
Threat-related ACE score (%)
0
2129 (53.5)
1341 (57.7)
788 (47.6)
<0.001
1
892 (22.4)
499 (21.5)
393 (23.7)
2
508 (12.8)
274 (11.8)
234 (14.1)
≥3
450 (11.3)
209 (9.0)
241 (14.6)
Deprivation-related ACE score (%)
0
640 (16.1)
410 (17.6)
230 (13.9)
<0.001
1
1380 (34.7)
839 (36.1)
541 (32.7)
2
1256 (31.6)
749 (32.2)
507 (30.6)
≥3
703 (17.7)
325 (14.0)
378 (22.8)
LCA-driven ACE cluster
Low risk
2733 (68.7)
1673 (72.0)
1060 (64.0)
<0.001
Poor parent relationship
241 (6.1)
102 (14.8)
139 (18.2)
Physical abuse
644 (16.2)
343 (4.4)
301 (8.3)
Biological parent absence
76 (11.9)
43 (1.9)
33 (2.0)
Mental neglect
287 (7.2)
162 (7.0)
123 (7.4)
Note: ACEs: adverse childhood experiences. “Yes” represents “experienced a specific ACE.” Concerning the length of the table, we did not include the prevalence of “without experience of the specific ACE,” which should be 100%—% of yes. The values indicate if there are significant differences in the distribution of ACE types and baseline characteristics between the nondepression and depression groups.
