Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience: A Sense of Purpose As a Mediator

Introduction/Background:

No known empirical studies reported the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and resilience among college students. Not all students experiencing ACEs manifest negative outcomes. There are factors that may mitigate the negative impact of ACEs, such as a sense of purpose (SP). SP as a resilience factor promotes well-being and supports positive development for emerging adulthood. SP focuses on individual and collective strengths that build a life of meaning and purpose, which improves the quality of life. Utilizing positive psychology and resilience theory as potent frameworks for overcoming adversity, this study examined whether increased ACEs are associated with resilience and explored the mediating role of SP in such association among college students.

Methods:

Upon IRB approval from participating universities in the United States, data were collected via an online survey in fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters. Among the 695 (ages 18-29) samples, 475 with complete data were included in the final analysis. The majority were female (71.9%), heterosexual (69.9%), and Caucasian (61.6%) students. ACEs were self-reported via the Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (WHO, 2012), resilience via the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor et al., 2003), and SP via the Brief Purpose In Life measure (Hill et al., 2016). Control variables included age, race, and sexual identity.

Using Mplus v. 8.4, structural equation modeling was conducted to test the direct association (Hypothesis 1, ACEs will be negatively associated with resilience) and the indirect association (Hypothesis 2, SP will mediate the association between ACEs resilience.).

Results:

The model fit the data well, CFI = .947, TLI = .938, SRMR = .036, RMSEA = .045. Inconsistent with our first hypothesis, ACEs were not directly related to resilience (β = –.09, ns). However, SP was a significant mediator between ACEs and levels of resilience (β = –.11, 95%; CI = –.16 to –.05), supporting our second hypothesis.

Conclusions and Implications:

The results revealed SP was fully mediated between ACEs and resilience in our college students. These findings support the growing literature on ACEs among college students and inform that SP is likely to increase resilience in college students by emphasizing SP as an important pathway through which ACEs are associated with resilience. In particular, this study emphasizes that campus-wide, meaning-centered interventions should develop and provide strategies to foster SP.