Examining the relationship between childhood trauma, interpersonal addiction and relational aggression

The study aimed to examine the mediating role of interpersonal dependence in the relationship between childhood trauma and relational aggression in university students. The study included 696 (505 female, 191 male) students between the ages of 18-49 (average age = 21.86, standard deviation = 3.73) studying at İnönü University. Personal Information Form, Childhood Traumas Questionnaire (CTQ-28), Relational Aggression in Friendship Relationships Scale (ARILSÖ) and Interpersonal Dependency Scale Short Form were used to collect data. The relationships between the variables in the research model were analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis. In order to examine the mediating role of interpersonal dependence in the relationship between childhood trauma and relational aggression, analyses were conducted using Process Macro application and bootstrapping technique. As a result of the analyses, it was found that there were significant positive relationships between childhood trauma and interpersonal dependence, interpersonal dependence and relational aggression, and childhood trauma and relational aggression. When the mediating role of interpersonal dependence in the relationship between childhood trauma and relational aggression was examined, it was found that the indirect effect was significant and interpersonal dependence partially mediated this relationship. The findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature and various suggestions were presented for practitioners and researchers.