Childhood Maltreatment, Psychological Resilience, and Posttraumatic Reactions in Youth: The Roles of Positive Childhood Experiences

Objective: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is an early risk factor for posttraumatic reactions in youth. Psychological resilience plays a significant role in these processes. However, the role of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) is less known. We aimed to explore how CM and PCEs jointly affect posttraumatic reactions via psychological resilience in young CM survivors. Method: The participants were 2,669 Chinese youth with CM experiences (53.6% female, 51.2% <= 18 years) who completed three-wave assessments over 1 year. We used structural equation modeling to examine the mediating roles of psychological resilience between CM and complex posttraumatic stress symptoms, posttraumatic growth, and posttraumatic depreciation. We also examined the moderating roles of PCEs in the relationship between CM types and psychological resilience. Results: Psychological resilience mediated the relationship between emotional abuse/PCEs and posttraumatic growth. Moreover, PCEs showed different interactive effects with emotional and sexual abuse on psychological resilience and further influenced posttraumatic growth. With low PCEs, emotional abuse had a positive indirect association with posttraumatic growth. With high PCEs, sexual abuse had a positive indirect association with posttraumatic growth. Conclusions: CM and PCEs can jointly affect the posttraumatic growth of young CM survivors via psychological resilience. The specific role of PCEs is contingent upon the type of CM.