Can the positive buffer the negative? Testing the impact of protective childhood experiences on adjustment in adults following trauma exposure

ABSTRACT

Background

It is unclear if protective childhood experiences (PCEs), like emotional support and economic stability, exert influence on adulthood adjustment. Prior research suggests PCEs can promote childhood resilience through increased social connection. In contrast, research has demonstrated potential life-long negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on psychological health. This study examined the role of PCEs and ACEs in psychological symptoms following potentially traumatic events (PTE) in adults.

Methods

Participants (N = 128) were adults admitted to two Level 1 Trauma Centers following violence, motor-vehicle crashes, or other accidents. Participants reported childhood experiences and completed assessments of depression, PTSD, and social support at one, four, and nine months post-PTE.

Results

Structural Equation Modeling was used to simultaneously model PCEs and ACEs as predictors of psychological symptoms over time, with potential mediation through social support. PCEs overall did not directly affect psychological symptoms nor indirectly through social support. However, the emotional support component of PCEs had an indirect effect on psychological symptoms at baseline through social support. ACEs predicted greater psychological symptoms at baseline and over time.

Conclusion

PCEs consisting of childhood emotional support indirectly promote adjustment in adults after PTEs through initial social support, while ACEs exert direct effects on psychological symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• : Childhood experiences
• protective
• aversive
• trauma
• adult adjustment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 As a sensitivity analysis, we conducted the primary analyses with the CESD and PCL5 measures as separate outcomes. Results were very similar with all the effects that were significant from the combined symptom SEM models also significant in both the CESD models and PCL5 models. A comparison of the standardized regression coefficients and their confidence intervals revealed very similar effect sizes. The only noticeable difference was two additional significant effects in the PTSD models: 1) T2 social support predicting greater T3 PTSD symptoms and 2) PCE emotional support predicting greater T1 PTSD symptoms. Because the effects were positive and in the opposite direction of the zero-order associations (e.g., correlation between PCE emotional support and T1 PTSD symptoms was negative), we interpreted them as suppression effects due to multicollinearity.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a National Institute of Mental Health Grant: R01MH113622 to Dr. Coifman.