Examining the mediating role of difficulty in emotion regulation in the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder in university students

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences, post-traumatic stress disorder and emotion regulation difficulties, and to investigate emotion regulation difficulties as a mediator in the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder. For this purpose, it is aimed to compare the scores obtained from the scales applied to university students and to obtain information about the level of relationship between the variables in question, contributing to both psychotherapy interventions and the literature. Method: The sample of this research consists of a total of 479 people, 310 women and 169 men, aged between 18 and 40. Data were collected via the internet. After the informed consent form was given to the participants and their approval was obtained, the Sociodemographic Information Form, Emotion Regulation Difficulty Scale-Short Form (DDGÖ-16), Childhood Trauma Scale (ÇÇTÖ), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire-Civilian Version Scale (PTSDÖ) were administered, respectively. . SPSS-28 statistical program was used to analyze the data. Frequency and Percentage Analysis, Descriptive Analyzes, Normality Analyzes, Independent Groups T Test, Anova Analysis, Pearson Correlation Analysis, Regression Analysis were applied. Findings: In this study, it was determined that the childhood traumatic experiences of university students did not show any significant difference in terms of gender, age group, university type and grade level. In addition, while significant differences were detected in post-traumatic stress disorder and emotion regulation difficulties according to gender and grade level, no significant differences could be determined according to age group and university type. Additionally, a positive significant relationship was found between childhood traumatic experiences, post-traumatic stress disorder and difficulty in emotion regulation. Finally, the partial mediating variable effect of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder was determined. Conclusion: At the end of the research, it was concluded that gender and grade level variables caused significant differences in the variables of post-traumatic stress disorder and difficulty in emotion regulation in university students. In addition, it was concluded that childhood traumatic experiences, post-traumatic stress disorder and difficulty in emotional regulation were directly proportional in university students. The partial mediating variable effect of emotion regulation difficulty in the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder is the last result obtained within the scope of the research.