Investigating the Relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Turkey

ABSTRACT

As the university environment can present unique challenges, it is important to look at the ways in which childhood trauma can impact student resilience, especially in non-Western contexts. The present study examines the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and measures of resilience among college students in Turkey. Students reported low levels of childhood trauma, both overall as well as within the various ACE sub-categories. Correlational analysis revealed statistically significant associations between some ACEs and measures of resilience. In terms of gender differences, females reported greater emotional abuse at a statistically significant level compared to males. Trends in the data also showed gender differences in general resilience as well as in experiences of physical abuse, physical fights, and indirect community violence. Gender moderated the relationship between ACEs and two resilience measures, with female students experiencing greater ACEs in terms of self-efficacy and self-regulation. Findings shed light on some of the ways that childhood trauma may be manifested across gender groups in Turkey. Implications for Turkey’s higher education systems are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Adverse childhood experiences
• resilience
• grit
• self-efficacy
• task value
• self-regulation
• mindset
• gender differences
• Turkey higher education

Compliance with ethical standards

The study was conducted at Koc University in Turkey. IRB approval was obtained through Koc University prior to data collection. All instruments were translated to Turkish for data collection and back-translated to English for data analysis. No funds were received for this study and there are no conflicts of interests. Informed consent was received from all participants. Data was reviewed for accuracy by the research team and verified by the first and second authors.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/TPA6U.