Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Well-being: The role of Cognitive Emotional Regulation Strategies and Social Support

In the literature, the long-term negative effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on mental health are well known. However, few studies have investigated the role of social support and cognitive-emotional regulation strategies (CER) in subjects with ACEs. Therefore, considering a sample of 86 subjects (N = 24 with histories of ACEs and N = 62 without histories of traumatic events), the present study investigated: 1. The associations among the presence/absence of ACEs, the use of CER strategies, and psychological well-being. 2. The indirect effect of the presence/absence of ACEs on psychological well-being through the mediation of CER strategies. Moreover, by considering only subjects with ACEs, the study explored: 3. The indirect effect of social support on psychological well-being through the mediation of the CER strategies (CER). Results showed that the presence of ACEs was associated with the maladaptive CER strategies of rumination, catastrophism, and blaming others and with participants' low psychological well-being. Regarding the mediational analyses, only rumination strategies mediated the association between ACEs and psychological well-being. Moreover, in the case of participants with ACEs, the rumination and positive reappraisal strategies mediated the association between social support and psychological well-being.