Effects of childhood maltreatment on emotional intelligence and psychosocial functioning in adult euthymic bipolar disorder patients compared with healthy controls

Abstract

Abstract Background Childhood maltreatment (CM) has been linked to poor emotional intelligence (EI) and psychosocial functioning (PSF) in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). However, no study has investigated whether EI mediates the relationship between CM and PSF in patients with BD. Here, we aimed to assess the association of CM with EI and PSF in euthymic patients with BD compared with healthy controls (HCs). Methods We assessed 124 euthymic participants with a BD diagnosis and 124 HCs by means of the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, the Functioning Assessment Short Test and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Linear regression models were constructed using CM categorized as no-CM, low/moderate-CM and high-CM. We subsequently assessed whether EI mediates the relationship between CM and PSF. Results Compared with HCs, patients with BD reported higher rates of CM and lower rates of PSF and EI. In the BD group, subjects who exhibited low/moderate CM obtained lower levels of PSF and EI than those with no-CM and high-CM levels. The regression models demonstrated that, compared with the no-CM category, the low/moderate CM category was inversely associated with EI strategic area scores in patients with BD. However, EI did not mediate the relationship between CM and PSF. Conclusions Low/moderate-CM was associated with the worst EI scores in BD. However, we did not observe any mediating effect of EI on the relationship between CM and PSF. Our results emphasize the importance of assessing CM in mental health and suggest that targeted therapies should be administered to affected patients.