Longitudinal Influences of Childhood Trauma on Depressive Symptoms among Chinese Vocational School Students: Roles of Anhedonia and Expressive Suppression

While existing research has consistently established the link between childhood trauma (CT) and depressive symptoms, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain insufficiently explored, particularly in vocational school students. Notably, the mediating role of anhedonia has not been verified through longitudinal studies, and the moderating effect of expressive suppression (ES) is still unclear. This study sought to address these gaps by exploring the longitudinal relationship between CT and depressive symptoms, with a specific focus on the roles of anhedonia and ES in this relationship among vocational school students in China. A two-wave longitudinal study was conducted with an 18-month interval with 1892 students (519 boys and 1373 girls) from 4 vocational schools in Hainan Province, China. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Revised Anhedonia Scale-Chinese version (RAS-C), and the expressive suppression subscale of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) were used for measurement. Results revealed that: (1) CT directly and positively predicted subsequent depressive symptoms ( β  = 0.06, p  < 0.05). (2) Anhedonia played a longitudinal mediating role in the CT-depression relationship ( β  = 0.07; p  < 0.05). (3) ES did not moderate the relationship between CT and depressive symptoms but moderated the relationship between CT and anhedonia ( β =-0.17, p  < 0.05) and the mediating effect of anhedonia on the relationship between CT and depressive symptoms ( β =-0.39, p  < 0.001). These findings suggest that CT may contribute to depressive symptoms among vocational school students through anhedonia. Although ES does not directly affect this pathway, it moderates the trauma–anhedonia link, weakening the indirect effect at higher ES levels. These findings highlight the need for interventions focused on reducing anhedonia and improving emotion regulation in trauma-exposed adolescents, particularly in vocational education settings.