Childhood Psychological Abuse Influences Adolescent Aggression Through Mentalizing and Alexithymia Sequential Mediation

Childhood Psychological Abuse Influences Adolescent Aggression Through Mentalizing and Alexithymia Sequential Mediation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Childhood Psychological Abuse Influences Adolescent Aggression Through Mentalizing and Alexithymia Sequential Mediation Shuilian Duan, Xizheng Xu, Huaying Pi, Ji Lai, Yuesheng Huang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6002113/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version 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 complete 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. Biological sciences/Psychology Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour Childhood psychological abuse Mentalizing Alexithymia Aggression Sequential Mediating Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 29 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 28 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 28 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 26 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 09 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6002113","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":449509901,"identity":"5c0e0b15-9793-4e99-af49-6833d45b9e93","order_by":0,"name":"Shuilian Duan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan Police Academy","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shuilian","middleName":"","lastName":"Duan","suffix":""},{"id":449509905,"identity":"a4a29514-9214-489b-b3d8-254c2058af47","order_by":1,"name":"Xizheng Xu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA20lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwaGBDCDXwIiwNhAtBbJGSRogTJuEKvFXLrhmTRv22F749u9xx78YLCR3XCA+dkDfFos5xxIk5zZlsZsdudcumEPQ5rxhgNs5gb4tBjcSEiT+Nhmw2Z2I8dMgofhcOKGAzxsEgS1JLZJ8BjPyDGT/MPwn0gtQFskDCRyzKR5GA4QpSXZcsa5NAOJGznmxjIGycYzD7OZEdCSk3ibp+ywPT/QYQ/fVNjJ9h1vfoZXCwMDTwpMARskmpjxqwcC9sMfEFpGwSgYBaNgFGABAE2KRuQG8s6bAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan Police Academy","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xizheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":449509906,"identity":"494eb4c2-39b0-43b3-bb26-118038b9aca3","order_by":2,"name":"Huaying Pi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan Police Academy","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huaying","middleName":"","lastName":"Pi","suffix":""},{"id":449509907,"identity":"a34865dc-dac1-4c06-95e8-36b39bb5118e","order_by":3,"name":"Ji Lai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan Police Academy","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ji","middleName":"","lastName":"Lai","suffix":""},{"id":449509908,"identity":"b348e104-1794-4f0e-aa29-f9a98ca081ca","order_by":4,"name":"Yuesheng Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan Police Academy","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuesheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-02-10 21:08:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6002113/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6002113/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07449-w","type":"published","date":"2025-07-02T15:57:18+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":86178962,"identity":"ee7b5a22-5f22-4f75-b354-723022fae7b9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-07 16:13:06","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":446642,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"titlerevisedmanuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6002113/v1_covered_7213a163-5cfd-4f6a-9629-77a9b2646c73.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Childhood Psychological Abuse Influences Adolescent Aggression Through Mentalizing and Alexithymia Sequential Mediation","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Childhood psychological abuse, Mentalizing, Alexithymia, Aggression, Sequential Mediating","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6002113/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6002113/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"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. 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