Adverse childhood experiences, self-compassion, psychological flexibility, and posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are an important public health issue associated with a variety of short- and long-term mental health problems. Despite the negative impact of these events, little research has examined the mechanisms underlying the relationship between ACEs and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a critical step in developing intervention services to promote mental health and well-being. The present study sought to examine the mediating role of self-compassion and psychological flexibility in the relationships between ACEs and PTSD in young adults. Participants were 474 young adults (70 % female) aged 18–26 years (M = 20.49, SD = 1.45) from a public university in Türkiye. We found that ACEs were significantly and positively associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition to this direct effect, ACEs were a significant predictor of psychological flexibility and posttraumatic stress symptoms through self-compassion in young adults. Together, these variables explained 45 % of the variance in PTSD symptoms. Finally, we found that psychological flexibility mediated the relationship between ACEs and posttraumatic stress symptoms. The results of this study suggest that promoting self-compassion and psychological flexibility is important in reducing the impact of adverse childhood experiences on mental health. Interventions can be designed to increase self-compassion and psychological flexibility to reduce the impact of ACEs on PTSD.