Childhood Adversity to Adult Wellbeing

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with psychological difficulties in adulthood, including increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, and decreased psychological wellbeing (Makriyianis et al., 2019; Fazio et al., 2025). Childhood adversity may also influence emotional regulation, identity formation, and coping responses to stress, which increase vulnerability to negative psychological outcomes in adulthood (Ortiz & Sibinga, 2017; Büyükcebeci, 2026). Psychological flexibility may serve as a protective factor that reduces avoidance and promotes more adaptive responses to stress, while psychological inflexibility is associated with greater psychological distress (Guler et al., 2023; Bonanno & Burton, 2013). The current study examines the relationship between the number of ACEs and adult psychological outcomes. It is hypothesized that greater retrospectively reported childhood adversity will be associated with lower psychological flexibility, greater reliance on maladaptive coping strategies, and higher symptoms of anxiety and depression. The study also seeks to examine the extent to which psychological flexibility may mediate the relationship between childhood adversity and adult well-being. Participants (N = 98; 83.7% Female; 93.9% White) completed a survey consisting of the Adverse childhood experiences questionnaire (California Surgeon General's Clinical Advisory Committee, 2020; Felitti et al., 1998), Brief COPE (Carver, 1997), Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory Short Form (Rolffs JL; Rogge RD; Wilson KG, 2018), College Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire (Renshaw, 2020), and DASS-21 (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995). Consistent with study hypotheses, higher ACEs endorsed were correlated with greater depression, anxiety and stress as well as greater avoidant coping. The hypothesized relationships between ACEs and psychological inflexibility was not supported; however, exploratory analysis revealed significant a positive association between ACEs endorsed and psychological inflexibility. Not surprisingly given the non-significant zero order relationships between ACEs and psychological flexibility, the hypothesized indirect effect of psychological flexibility on the relationship between ACEs and wellbeing was non-significant, b = −0.296, 95% bootstrapped CI [−0.857, 0.206]. An exploratory mediation model informed by the observed zero-order correlations, found a significant indirect effect of psychological inflexibility on the relationship between ACEs and depression,anxiety, and stress, b = 0.790, 95% bootstrapped CI [0.291, 1.56]. Findings may contribute to a better understanding of factors associated with resilience following childhood adversity and could potentially have implications for prevention and interventions that strengthen psychological inflexibility and adaptive coping skills. Key Words: Adverse Childhood Experiences, Psychological Flexibility, Coping Strategies, Psychological wellbeing, Anxiety, and Depression