Investigating the relationships among childhood traumas, adult attachment style and self compassion

Research shows that there is a relationship between childhood traumas and psychological problems for future life. Individuals' exposure to neglect and abuse experiences may cause to insecure attachment and affect their relatioships at adulthood. It can be thought that childhood traumas and insecure attachment style may negatively affect self compassion which is related to healthy processes. This research aims to investigate the relationships among childhood traumas, adult attachment style and self compassion level. In addition, another goal of the study is to search childhood traumas, attachment and self compassion level in relation to variables such as age, gender, marital status, education level, employement status, level of income and whether or not there is a psychiatric diagnosis. Surveys were conducted online, so the sample consisted of individuals over the age of 18 who were reached objectively from different groups. The sample of this study consisted of totally 300 individuals, 212 female (%70,7) and 88 male (%29,3). In this study, Personal Information Form, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory-II and Self Compassion Scale were conducted to the participants. It was found that emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse and physical neglect were significant predictors on anxious attachment style, whereas emotional neglect subscale was found a significant predictor on avoidant attachment style. Emotional neglect, emotional abuse and anxious attachment were found significant predictors on self compassion. According to the results, it can be thought that during therapy, childhood traumas and attachment styles can be handled together while increasing self compassion level to facilitate the healing process.