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. 2025 Jul 2;15(1):23321.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-07449-w.

Childhood psychological abuse influences adolescent aggression through mentalizing and alexithymia sequential mediation

Shuilian Duan  1 , Xizheng Xu  2 , Huaying Pi  1 , Ji Lai  1 , Yuesheng Huang  3
Affiliations

Childhood psychological abuse influences adolescent aggression through mentalizing and alexithymia sequential mediation

Shuilian Duan et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

This study explores the impact of childhood psychological abuse on adolescent aggression and delves into the sequential mediating roles played by mentalizing and alexithymia within this dynamic. Engaging a cohort of 911 middle and high school students in China, the research uncovers that childhood psychological abuse is a significant predictor of aggression in adolescents. It further identifies alexithymia as a mediator in the correlation between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent aggression. Additionally, a sequential mediation by mentalizing and alexithymia elucidates the complex link connecting childhood psychological abuse to aggression. These insights shed light on the psychological underpinnings of aggressive behaviors in adolescents and lay a foundation for crafting targeted prevention and intervention strategies.

Keywords: Aggression; Alexithymia; Childhood psychological abuse; Mentalizing; Sequential mediating.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: This study was approved by the Ethics Review Committee of Hunan First Normal University. All procedures involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Specifically, informed consent was obtained from all participants, their confidentiality was ensured, and their participation was voluntary.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The hypotheses model of study.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Chain-mediated graph of the effect of childhood psychological abuse on aggression. *formula image; ***formula image. Dashed lines represent insignificant paths.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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