The relationship between childhood experiences and adult interpersonal functioning and wellbeing

Childhood traumatic experiences have been shown to have long term consequences that extend into adulthood. The present study used a community sample of 250 adults (51.6% women, mean age = 32, age range: 21–64 years) in Ghana to explore the long term associations of childhood trauma with adult interpersonal functioning and psychological wellbeing. Participants retrospectively reported perceived childhood traumas and responded to questions assessing their self-esteem, object-relations, and current PTSD symptoms. In this sample, 23.3% of participants reported experiencing a single childhood trauma, while 36.7% of participants reported experiencing at least two childhood traumas. The three most common childhood traumas reported were the death of a close friend/family member, extreme illness/injury, and high conflict parental marriage. The majority (73%) of reported traumas were in the category of traumas that arose from chance events or nature (general trauma), as compared to traumas perpetuated by a person usually known by the victim with the specific intent to harm the victim (relational trauma). The results indicated that adults with any perceived trauma experiences in childhood had significantly more impairment in their current interpersonal relatedness capacity and more PTSD symptoms than their counterparts without traumas. Participants who experienced relational traumas, as well as those with multiple traumatic experiences had more object relations impairment and more PTSD symptoms compared to those with general traumas and a single trauma respectively. No evidence was found for associations between perceived childhood trauma and current self-esteem in the sample. There was also no evidence that social support moderated the relationship between childhood trauma and adult self-esteem, interpersonal relatedness, and PTSD symptoms among participants. Recommendations for future studies are to explore the unique interpersonal and PTSD impairments associated with each individual type of childhood traumas investigated in the study, investigate associations of childhood trauma with physical outcomes in adulthood, and explore the possible moderating role of other elements of social support between childhood trauma and psychological and interpersonal outcomes in adulthood. Policy recommendations include the use of empirical studies from the country to advocate for better mental health resources, and social marketing campaigns to normalize mental health seeking behaviors.