Gender Differences in the Effects of Physical and Emotional Abuse in Childhood on : Suicidal Ideation in Adulthood Focusing on Mediating Effects of Depression

This study examines the effects of physical and emotional abuse in childhood on depression and suicidal ideation in adulthood mediated by depression, focusing who experienced child abuse in the group of general adults. In particular, it places special emphasis on the comparison between the effects of physical and emotional abuse, and the aspects of the gender differences. with data from KGSS 2012, T-test, correlation analysis, path analysis, and Sobel Test were conducted by SPSS 18. It is found that depression was the most effective factor leading to suicidal ideation in both men and women. Childhood abuse was completely mediated by depression, affecting suicidal ideation. However, gender differences occurred in the specific causation process, as follows: First, The influence of household income on depression or suicidal ideation was detected in the male group only. The direct or indirect effect of total household income on depression or suicidal ideation may be caused by the pressure of strong patriarchal culture in the Korean society which requires men as breadwinner of family and the agent of economic activities. Second, the effect of emotional abuse was greater than that of physical abuse in the male group, while there were no effect of emotional abuse but an effect of physical abuse in the female group. It seems that men are often more resilient to physical abuse than women because of the socialization process of men facing frequently corporal punishment, domination, power etc. On the other hand, it seems that women not accustomed to the use of corporal punishment, violence, or force are less resilient to physical abuse than men. Third, the effect of emotional abuse appeared in the male group only. It can be explained that men are accustomed to emotional suppression due to training of masculinity which emphasizes power and dominance, independence, efficiency, control, and strongness and accordingly become less emotionally flexible than women. As a result, this study confirms that physical and emotional abuse in childhood affect suicidal ideation and this relationship is mediated by depression in adulthood. and it also shows that the relative effects of physical and emotional abuse and the causal processes is different by gender. This results also suggests the necessity of introducing a gender perspective in suicide studies.