Perceived social support and self-esteem mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing in Chinese undergraduate students

Bingbing Li, Yangu Pan, Guangzeng Liu, Wanfen Chen, Jiamei Lu and Xu Li

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 117, issue C

Abstract: The association between childhood maltreatment and well-being is not entirely understood. This study builds upon existing findings by adopting a comprehensive indicator of well-being, psychosocial flourishing, to further examine the association. Guided by the Risky Families Model, the social support deterioration model, and attachment theory, we also tested the mediating roles of both other-focused resilience (perceived social support) and self-focused resilience (self-esteem) in the association between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing. In total, 1622 Chinese undergraduate students completed measures on childhood maltreatment, perceived social support, self-esteem, and psychosocial flourishing. Results of the correlation analyses showed negative and significant relationships between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing, perceived social support and self-esteem. Moreover, there were positive and significant relationships between perceived social support, self-esteem, and psychosocial flourishing. Structural equation modeling revealed that perceived social support and self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing. The indirect effect of perceived social support was stronger than that of self-esteem. These findings indicate that perceived social support and self-esteem are important factors in the associations between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing in undergraduate students. Results are discussed and suggestions for school counselors and mental health professionals are presented.

Keywords: Childhood maltreatment; Psychosocial flourishing; Resilience; Perceived social support; Self-esteem (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:117:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920304606

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105303

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