Relationships among childhood experiences, emotion regulation, shame coping and psychological adjustment of college students

The purpose of this study was to investigate and explore the possible pathways of adverse and benevolent childhood experiences and psychological distress mediated by emotion regulation strategies and shame coping of college students who are in the emerging adulthood period. The sample of the study consisted of 393 college students. The data collection instruments were Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10-PDS), Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Scale, Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, The Compass of Shame Scale (CoSS). Path analysis of structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore possible pathways among variables. Results indicated that both ACEs and BCEs were directly related with psychological distress of college students (for ACEs β = .139, p < .05; for BCEs β = -.104, p < .05). Also, both ACEs and BCEs were indirectly associated with psychological distress of college students via emotion regulation strategies namely reappraisal and suppression and maladaptive shame coping style (for ACEs β = .088, p < .001; for BCEs β = -.139, p < .001). Psychological counseling and preventive interventions for college students may focus on providing trainings on increasing adaptive emotion regulation and shame coping skills.