Meaning of life in adults: The role of childhood trauma and psychological resilience

In this study, the role of childhood trauma and psychological resilience on the meaning of life among adults was examined. 400 adult participants between the ages of 18 and 60 participated in the research. Participants were administered a "Personal Information Form," "Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-33)," "Meaning in Life Scale," and "Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults." The collected data were analysed using SPSS 26.0 software. Spearman's Rho correlation was applied to investigate the relationship between the meaning in life and childhood trauma and psychological resilience levels among adults. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of levels of meaning in life. Additionally, the levels of meaning in life were compared across participant variables, including gender, age, marital status, number of children, employment status, education level, and socioeconomic status. According to the findings obtained from the research, a negative, weak, and significant relationship was found between scores of meaning in life and emotional abuse, emotional neglect, overprotection-control, and childhood traumas. It was also found that scores of meaning in life were moderately associated with self-perception, future perception, structural style, social competence, family cohesion, social resources, and psychological resilience. When examining the predictors of meaning in life scores, it was found that psychological resilience was the strongest predictor of meaning in life scores in adults. The results indicate that age groups, childhood trauma, and psychological resilience play predictive roles in adults' levels of meaning in life, while childhood trauma loses its predictive role when the psychological resilience variable is considered. There was a significant difference between meaning in life and age, marital status, number of children, employment status, and socioeconomic status, while there was no significant difference between meaning in life and gender and education level.