The relationship between unhappiness in adulthood and childhood trauma

Happiness is a factor that every person has to have in their lives. The main purpose of this thesis is to explore the reasons behind unhappiness in adults and its relationship with childhood trauma. While this research is conducted, the demographic information of people involved, such as their age, gender, income level, family structure, and mental well-being, is incorporated into the research. How much it affected them by its severity is examined in the study. Adults between the ages of 20 and 65 were included in the research group. 74% of the participants are women, and 26% of them are men. With the intent of collecting data, "The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire", which was developed by Hills and Argyle (2002) and translated to Turkish by Doğan and Çötok (2011), was used along with "Adverse Childhood Experiences Turkish Form" (ACE), which was developed by CDC and Permanente in 1997; ACE and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form, which was improved by Bernstein and his friends (2004) and translated into Turkish by Aslan and Alparslan (1999), and the Personal Information Form which was prepared by the researcher. It is reported that the levels of perception in terms of physical neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse the participants have are lower, while the emotional neglect perception level is closer to the middle rank. It is seen that the perception level of total experience of trauma in childhood and the negative experience of perception levels in childhood is low, while in the Oxford Happiness Form, the level of perception in regards to happiness around the participants is stated to be above the middle rank. It is proved that there has been a positive relationship between Childhood Age Trauma Form and Childhood Age Negative Experiences Form, while there has been a negative relationship between Childhood Age Trauma Form and Oxford Happiness Form. There is a negative relationship between Childhood Age Negative Trauma Experiences and Oxford Happiness Form.