Adverse Childhood Experiences and PTSD Symptoms among Young Adults: Role of Social Connectedness

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to determine how young people' social connectedness (SC), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) relate to one another. For the study, (N = 300) participants were chosen. They ranged in age from 19 to 40. Purposive sampling was employed to get data for the cross-sectional design. The Social connectedness Scale (SCS), which gauges social connection, the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) for PTSD symptoms, and the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-Q) for adverse childhood experiences were all utilized. For analysis, the independent sample t-test, Pearson correlation, and moderation analysis were performed. The findings indicated a substantial negative relationship between ACE and SC and a significant positive correlation between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms. Additionally, there was a strong negative relationship between Social Connectedness and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms. The results demonstrated that there was a substantial gender difference in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms between the male and female populations, with females scoring higher than males. Furthermore, the findings showed that social connectedness had no significant moderating effect on the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms. As the present study is purely quantitative in nature, It is suggested for the future researchers to focus on mixed method approach in future studies, in order to understand the relationship between study variables comprehensively.