Research on the impact of childhood experiences on adulthood personality

• Published in: SHS Web of Conferences
• Main Author: Li Jiaxin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2025-01-01
• Online Access: https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/pdf/2025/13/shsconf_icepcc2025_03023.pdf

This study focuses on the interactions between family backgrounds, childhood experiences, and childrearing practices within the bidirectional correlation between childhood experiences and adulthood personality traits. Based on a cross-sectional questionnaire survey involving 145 adults aged from 18 to 60 (49 males, 96 females), it adopts the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Adult Form, EPQ) to assess the effects of positive and adverse childhood experiences on adulthood personality traits (e.g., self-esteem, social competence, and emotional instability). The findings show that positive childhood experiences significantly enhance self-esteem (β=0.56，p<0.05) and social competence (β=0.35，p<0.05) in adulthood, whereas adverse childhood experiences substantially increase the risk for emotional instability (OR = 3.41, 95% CI [1.89, 5.73]). Also, childhood neglect has a greater impact on emotional stability in adult females (β=-0.47) than in males (β=-0.9 ， p<0.01). According to the statistics, the influences and adaptive mechanisms of childhood experiences on childhood personality exhibit significant gender differences. Therefore, the research proposes an integrated family-school-community intervention model, expecting to mitigate the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences as early as possible via early screening, resilience training, and other measures.