Date of Graduation
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Psychological Science
Advisor/Mentor
McDaniel, Brenda
Abstract
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events, such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, that occur before 18 years old. ACEs are strong predictors of negative health outcomes, such as poor physical health and risky health behaviors (Felitti et al., 1998; Merrick et al., 2017; Hughes et al., 2017). Previous research has proposed self- compassion may serve as a robust protective factor against childhood adversity (Hazzard et al., 2021) and may help explain the negative consequences of ACEs. The present study investigated the relationship between retrospectively reported ACEs and health outcomes in the context of self-compassion. 458 U.S. adults aged 18-45 were surveyed to assess self-reported levels of childhood adversity, self-compassion, mental health, risky behaviors, and physical health. Higher amounts of childhood adversity were found to predict worse mental health, engagement in more risky behaviors, and poorer physical health. Moreover, self-compassion partially mediated the associations between adversity types experienced in childhood with mental health, risky behavior, and physical health in adulthood.
Keywords
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); self-compassion; mental health; posttrauma risky behaviors; physical health
Citation
Bunch, E. (2025). Self-Compassion Mediates the Relationship between Childhood Adversity in the Prediction of Later Health Outcomes among U.S. Adults. Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/psycuht/76
