Emotional Resilience and Event Centrality Mediate Posttraumatic Growth Following Adverse Childhood Experiences

Objectives: Research has long established that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to a range of negative psychological consequences, including posttraumatic stress symptoms. It is also increasingly recognized that ACEs can serve as a catalyst for positive changes, such as posttraumatic growth (PTG). The mechanisms by which people report negative or positive changes are less well known. This study explored whether emotional resilience and event centrality could determine the degree of negative or positive changes reported following ACES. Method: Participants (N = 167; 54.5% female; aged 19-95 years) completed an online survey measuring experiences of childhood adversity, resilience, event centrality, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and PTG. Results: Mediation analyses indicated that resilience and event centrality explained PTG only, exerting significant medium negative and small positive indirect effects on PTG, respectively. Conclusions: These findings indicate that following ACE., the treatment and management of emotional resilience and event centrality could lead to positive effects on psychological well-being.

Automated summary

This study found that childhood adversity can lead to negative outcomes or positive changes, with emotional resilience and event centrality playing important roles in determining the degree of negative or positive changes reported by individuals.