TY - JOUR PY - 2017// TI - Adverse childhood experiences, religious/spiritual struggles, and mental health symptoms: examination of mediation models JO - Mental health, religion and culture A1 - McCormick, Wesley H. A1 - Carroll, Timothy D. A1 - Sims, Brook M. A1 - Currier, Joseph SP - 1042 EP - 1054 VL - 20 IS - 10 N2 - Emerging research has documented greater risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among young adults with prior adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Building upon prior findings, we hypothesised that religious/spiritual (R/S) struggles may serve as an intervening pathway through which accumulation of ACEs impacts mental health symptom severity in this population. Young adults (N = 458) were recruited from a southeastern university to complete an online self-report survey that assessed for ACEs, lifetime trauma exposure, R/S struggles, PTSD and depressive symptomatology. Bivariate correlations yielded significant positive relationships between ACEs and all six types of R/S struggles, depression, and PTSD. Additionally, when accounting for non-childhood trauma exposure, the mediational analyses indicated an indirect effect of struggles with ultimate meaning on the well-establish association between ACEs and mental health symptoms. Clinical implications (such as the importance of fostering meaning making), study limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1367-4676 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2018.1440544 ID - ref1 ER -