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Title CHILDHOOD TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE AND SELF-HARM BEHAVIOR AMONG EMERGING ADULTS: ROLE OF PARENTAL ATTACHMENT AND DISTRESS TOLERANCE

Author(s) Sabah Khalil

Abstract The present study was designed to investigate the impact of childhood traumatic experiences on self- harm behavior among emerging adults. Total sample of (N = 332) emerging adults including both male students (n = 143) and female students (n = 189) with age range of 18 to 29 years (M = 1.57, SD = 0.50) participated from educational institutes of Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Dera Ismail Khan in the study. In this study, Childhood Traumatic Questionnaire (CTQ; Berntein & Fink, 1998), Self-Harm Inventory (Vrouva et al., 2010), Adult Scale of Parental Attachment (ASPA; Snow etal., 2005) and Distress Tolerance Sacle (DTS; Simons & Gaher, 2005) were used. The results indicated that childhood traumatic experiences have significant positive correlation with self-harm behavior and insecure parental attachment with mother and father. Childhood traumatic experiences significantly negatively correlate with secure parental attachment with mother and father. Distress tolerance non-significantly negatively correlates with childhood traumatic experiences and non-significantly positively correlates with self-harm behavior. Secure parental attachment significantly negatively correlates with distress tolerance and significantly positively correlates with insecure parental attachment. T-test shows that there are no mean differences across gender for the studied variables. It was revealed that there are hardly any mean differences across age groups and family system, whereas high mean differences across marital status, current household and education-wise for the studied variables. Moderation analysis showed that secure parental attachment with mother and insecure parental attachment with mother and father significantly moderates the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and self-harm behavior whereas, secure parental attachment with father does not moderate the relationship. Mediation analysis showed that distress tolerance (b = -.003, CI [-.01,.003], p<.05) did not mediate the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and self-harm behavior. The study has implications for future educational and clinical practice and makes suggestions regarding clinical interventions that focus on childhood traumatic experiences and self-harm behavior for treatment purpose and secure parental attachment to overcome maladaptive coping mechanisms as a way of reducing self-harm behavior. To lessen self-harming behaviors, clinicians can create therapeutic procedures that emphasize mending attachment relationships. The study advises doctors to use a strengths-based approach by focusing on non-pathological variables, which helps clients develop resilience and deal with hardship. Keywords: Childhood Traumatic Experience, Self-Harm Behavior, Parental Attachment and Distress Tolerance.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Social Sciences

Department Psychology

Language English

Publication Date 2025-06-19

Subject Psychology

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