The association between adverse childhood experiences and early adulthood social mindfulness: The mediating role of daily stress

Social mindfulness is a low-cost, proactive prosocial behavior that is commonly elicited and enhanced through everyday interpersonal interactions. Recent studies revealed that individuals' childhood experiences shape adults' prosocial behavior. However, the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and social mindfulness during early adulthood-a pivotal stage for identity and career development-remains unclear. Therefore, Study 1 employed the Chinese version of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire-Revised (ACEQ-R) to measure ACEs and the Social Mindfulness (SoMi) paradigm to determine social mindfulness and preliminarily assessed the association between ACEs and early adulthood social mindfulness. Study 2 also employed the ACEQ-R to measure ACEs and assessed daily stress and social mindfulness levels through a 12-day diary study to examine the association between ACEs and daily social mindfulness and the mediating role of daily stress. Greater severity of ACEs was associated with lower levels of social mindfulness in early adulthood. ACEs not only influenced individuals' level of social mindfulness directly but also indirectly affected early adulthood social mindfulness through daily stress. Thus, ACEs, as negative environmental factors, profoundly impact individuals' social adaptive development in early adulthood. These results offer a theoretical foundation and empirical support for enhancing social mindfulness levels among adults.