Childhood Trauma and Subjective Symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Health-Related Quality of Life in the General Population: The Mediating Roles of Emotional Suppression and Cognitive Control

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects millions worldwide, imposing substantial clinical consequences and mental health implications. This burden leads to reduced quality of life (QoL) and growing pressure on healthcare systems and economies. This cross-sectional study examined the effects of childhood trauma on subjective symptoms of IBD health-related QoL, focusing on the mediating roles of emotional suppression and cognitive control, providing an integrative model for the general population. Methods: A sample of 402 Portuguese adults completed self-report measures, including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Cognitive Control and Flexibility Questionnaire, and the Short IBD Questionnaire. Multiple-step mediation analyses with bootstrapped confidence intervals tested indirect effects. Results: The two-step mediation effects indicated that childhood trauma was associated with subjective symptoms of IBD health-related QoL through both expressive suppression and cognitive control. Conclusions: These findings highlight the pivotal role of developmental, emotional and cognitive factors in understanding IBD health-related QoL in the general population, offering an opportunity to capture undiagnosed, mild, atypical, or intermittent cases, often discarded from most clinical studies. General-population-based data collection on IBD, beyond clinical settings, is vital for informed resource allocation and the design of effective screening, prevention and public health interventions that capture both diagnosed and undiagnosed cases.