Child Maltreatment and Subjective Well-being in Chinese Emerging Adults: A Process Model Involving Self-esteem and Self-compassion

Abstract

Child maltreatment is negatively associated with subjective well-being in emerging adulthood, but the understanding of the mechanisms of this relationship is incomplete. Guided by the stress process model incorporated with a life-course perspective, the present study examined the protective roles of self-related resources (self-esteem and self-compassion) in this association, while considering various maltreatment types (physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and sexual abuse). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, Self-compassion Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale were used to measure the key variables through an online survey of 358 Chinese college students (226 females, mean age = 19.18) Direct effect of one type of maltreatment on life satisfaction and the three indirect effects through (a) self-esteem; (b) self-compassion; and (c) self-esteem and self-compassion in sequence were examined while controlling for age, gender, and the other four maltreatment types. The results showed that psychological maltreatment was negatively associated with life satisfaction through self-esteem and through the pathway from self-esteem to self-compassion. Indirect effects of the other three types of maltreatment were not significant. This suggests that self-processes are more vulnerable to psychological maltreatment than to other maltreatment types. The type of maltreatment experienced in childhood is worth considering when investigating the extending effect of child maltreatment on individual developmental outcomes. Our findings broaden the understanding of the mechanisms of the stress process model integrated with a life-course perspective. Self-related resources appear to play substantial roles in the long-term association between early stressors of psychological maltreatment in childhood and subjective well-being in emerging adulthood. Highlighting the need to work on improved self-related resources, including self-compassion and self-esteem, might help practitioners to provide treatment for survivors of adverse childhood experiences.