IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v169y2025ics0190740924006819.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Arslan, Gökmen
  • Özdemir Bişkin, Serap
  • Kocaayan, Fatma

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Arslan, Gökmen & Özdemir Bişkin, Serap & Kocaayan, Fatma, 2025. "Adverse childhood experiences, self-compassion, psychological flexibility, and posttraumatic stress disorder," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:169:y:2025:i:c:s0190740924006819
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.108109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740924006819
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.108109?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jurgen A. Doornik & Henrik Hansen, 2008. "An Omnibus Test for Univariate and Multivariate Normality," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(s1), pages 927-939, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ericsson, Neil R., 2016. "Eliciting GDP forecasts from the FOMC’s minutes around the financial crisis," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 571-583.
    2. Tommaso Proietti, 2002. "Some Reflections on Trend-Cycle Decompositions with Correlated Components," Econometrics 0209002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Hong, Yanran & Cao, Shijiao & Xu, Pengfei & Pan, Zhigang, 2024. "Interpreting the effect of global economic risks on crude oil market: A supply-demand perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Martha Misas A. & Carlos Esteban Posada & Diego Mauricio V�squez, 2001. "�Est� Determinado el Nivel de Precios por las Expectativas de Dinero y Producto en Colombia?," Borradores de Economia 3807, Banco de la Republica.
    5. L. Marattin & P. Paesani & S. Salotti, 2011. "Fiscal shocks, public debt, and long-term interest rate dynamics," Working Papers wp740, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    6. Hayley Jang & Young Hoon Lee & Rodney Fort, 2019. "Winning In Professional Team Sports: Historical Moments," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 103-120, January.
    7. Eckhard Hein & Christian Schoder, 2011. "Interest rates, distribution and capital accumulation -- A post-Kaleckian perspective on the US and Germany," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 693-723, November.
    8. Keblowski, Piotr & Welfe, Aleksander, 2010. "Estimation of the equilibrium exchange rate: The CHEER approach," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1385-1397, November.
    9. Viglioni, Marco Túlio Dinali & Calegario, Cristina Lelis Leal & Bruhn, Nádia Campos Pereira, 2025. "Effects of economic complexity and metallic mineral resources on renewable energy transition in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Emmanouil Mavrakis & Christos Alexakis, 2018. "Statistical Arbitrage Strategies under Different Market Conditions: The Case of the Greek Banking Sector," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 17(2), pages 159-185, August.
    11. David F. Hendry & Grayham E. Mizon, 2016. "Improving the teaching of econometrics," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1170096-117, December.
    12. Alberto Montagnoli & Oreste Napolitano & Boriss Siliverstovs, 2016. "Regional Interest Rate Pass-Through in Italy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 1404-1419, August.
    13. Zamanipour, Behzad & Ghadaksaz, Hesam & Keppo, Ilkka & Saboohi, Yadollah, 2023. "Electricity supply and demand dynamics in Iran considering climate change-induced stresses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PE).
    14. Ådne Cappelen & Torbjørn Eika, 2020. "Immigration and the Dutch disease A counterfactual analysis of the Norwegian resource boom 2004-2013," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 669-690, July.
    15. Nuno Garoupa & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Measuring Political Institutions in the Long Run: A Latent Variable Analysis of Political Regimes, 1810–2018," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 867-914, July.
    16. F. Javier Mencía & Enrique Sentana, 2004. "Estimation and Testing of Dynamic Models with Generalised Hyperbolic Innovations," Working Papers wp2004_0411, CEMFI.
    17. Kumju Hwang & Bora Lee & Juhee Hahn, 2020. "Green Restaurant Consumers’ Pride and Social Healthy Narcissism Influencing Self-Actualization and Self-Transcendence That Drive Customer Citizenship Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    18. Luigi Ermini & David F. Hendry, 2008. "Log Income vs. Linear Income: An Application of the Encompassing Principle," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(s1), pages 807-827, December.
    19. Wang, Lu & Ma, Feng & Niu, Tianjiao & Liang, Chao, 2021. "The importance of extreme shock: Examining the effect of investor sentiment on the crude oil futures market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    20. Rossi, Barbara & Sekhposyan, Tatevik, 2014. "Evaluating predictive densities of US output growth and inflation in a large macroeconomic data set," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 662-682.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:169:y:2025:i:c:s0190740924006819. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.