This large review combined data from hundreds of studies to look at the connection between five types of child maltreatment and depression. The researchers examined emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect across many different settings. They looked at both the risk of developing depression and how severe the depression became in people who experienced these childhood events.
The main finding showed a clear pattern in studies that looked at complete histories of abuse. Emotional abuse was linked most strongly to depression, followed by physical abuse, and then sexual abuse. In studies where abuse history was incomplete, these differences between the types of maltreatment were harder to see.
Because the data came from many different studies, some with incomplete records, the results show associations rather than proving that one specific type of abuse causes depression directly. The authors suggest that clinical care and prevention efforts should focus more on emotional forms of maltreatment, as the evidence points to them as a significant risk factor.
