Adverse childhood experiences and coping strategies: identifying pathways to resiliency in adulthood

Abstract

Objective: The current study examined whether coping strategies mediate the link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adult psychiatric and physical health outcomes.

Methods: Data were drawn from wave I (N = 7108), wave II (N = 4963), and wave III (N = 3294) of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) Survey. An ACE count was created using seven aspects of early adversity based on prior literature. Coping variables were created using subscales of the COPE inventory. Psychiatric and health outcomes were assessed at baseline and at the 20-year follow-up. Bootstrapping mediation analyses were conducted using MPLUS to examine the link between ACEs and health outcomes and to determine if coping strategies mediate these relationships.

Results: Results of path analyses in Mplus showed that ACEs, reported at Wave I, were associated with worse psychiatric and physical health outcomes at Wave III. ACEs at Wave I were associated with greater use of avoidant emotion-focused coping and lower use of problem-focused strategies at Wave II. Avoidant emotion-focused coping at Wave II partially mediated the relationship between ACEs, reported at Wave I, and psychiatric and physical health outcomes reported at Wave III. No significant mediation was detected for problem-focused coping.

Conclusions: Coping strategies may be an important point target for prevention or intervention for individuals who have experienced ACEs.

Keywords: ACE; Adverse childhood experiences; coping; health; mental health.

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures

The Authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.

Mediation Models Note. *** = p < .001; ** = p < .01; * = p < .05. Covariates were modeled but not included for figure brevity.