The effect of childhood trauma and resilience on psychopathy in adulthood

Course overview

Course Description: This course is based on material published in BMC Psychology and is available as an open-access article. Exposure to traumatic events in childhood, including bullying, can negatively affect physical and mental health in adulthood. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of bullying in different sociodemographic groups of the Slovak Republic and to assess the moderating effect of bullying on the associations between childhood trauma, resilience, and the later occurrence of psychopathology. For the analyses, a representative sample of the population of the Slovak Republic was used (N = 1018, mean age 46.24 years, 48.7% of men). Multivariate linear regression models were used to investigate the predictive ability of childhood trauma (The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ) and resilience (The Brief Resilience Scale, BRS) to explain psychopathology (The Brief Symptom Inventory, BSI-53). Bullying (The Adverse Childhood Experiences - International Questionnaire, ACE-IQ) was used as a moderator. In total, 13.5% of respondents have experienced bullying. The most common form of bullying was making fun of someone because of how their body or face looked (46.7%) and excluding someone from activities or ignoring them (36.5%). Higher scores in all types of psychopathology and the Global Severity Index (GSI) were significantly associated with higher scores of emotional and sexual abuse, and some of them with physical neglect. The protective effect of resilience was moderated by bullying in several types of psychopathology, specifically in somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, psychoticism, and the GSI. Understanding the links between childhood trauma, bullying, and later psychopathology can help professionals target policies, resources, and interventions to support children and families at risk. Every child should feel accepted and safe at home and school. This course on the effects of childhood trauma and resilience is designed for clinical social workers, psychologists, professional counselors, nurses, and substance abuse counselors who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for intermediate and advanced-level practitioners who wish to develop their expertise in the effects of childhood trauma and resilience. The course material includes a literature review of interventions. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require continuing clinical education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article that includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading, and others do not. A significant benefit of reading peer-reviewed research-based articles for continuing education is that they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field. Authors: Svecova, Furstova, Kasakova, Hasto, Tavel Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding the effects of childhood trauma and resilience. Specifically, a professional will: Identify characteristics and effects of childhood trauma. Recognize the prevalence of bullying in different groups. Describe the moderating effect of bullying. Citation: Svecova, J., Furstova, J., Kasakova, N., Hasto, J., & Tavel, P. (2023). The effect of childhood trauma and resilience on psychopathology in adulthood: Does bullying moderate the associations? BMC psychology, 11(1), 230. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01270-8