Depressive cognitions as a mediator between adverse childhood experiences, resilience, and depression in Taiwanese university students

Objective Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), resilience, and depressive cognitions are recognised predictors of depressive symptoms. However, limited evidence exists on how depressive cognitions mediate these relationships in university students, a population facing developmental and psychological challenges during emerging adulthood. This study aimed to examine the indirect effects of depressive cognitions between ACEs, resilience, and depressive symptoms.Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 552 university students (aged 20–23) from five universities in northern Taiwan. Participants completed validated self-report measures assessing ACEs, trait resilience, depressive cognitions, and depressive symptoms. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesised model, and bootstrapping with 1000 resamples was used to assess indirect effects.Results ACEs were positively associated with depressive cognitions and depressive symptoms, while resilience was negatively associated with both. Moreover, depressive cognitions significantly accounted for indirect pathways between ACEs, resilience, and depressive symptoms.Conclusions These findings highlight depressive cognitions as a key psychological process through which early adverse experiences and trait resilience are associated with depressive outcomes. Targeted interventions focusing on cognitive restructuring may help reduce depressive symptoms among university students, given the central role of depressive cognitions observed in this study.