Does the type of maltreatment suffered in childhood influence the adoption of adult coping mechanisms?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14635/ipsic.1894Keywords:
Adverse childhood experiences, coping mechanisms, drugs, school failure, religious beliefs, and armyAbstract
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a risk factor for multiple physical and psychological pathologies, which can lead to the adoption of risky strategies such as drug and alcohol use, deviant behaviours, or other coping mechanisms such as religious beliefs. Thus, the main objective of this study is to analyse how ACEs influence the adoption of different coping strategies, specifically: substance use, school failure, religious beliefs, and enlistment in the army. Participants were 490 young people between 18 and 20 years old, who responded to the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire (abuse, neglect, and household dysfunctions), as well as to different questions about the study variables. The results indicated that coping strategies varied according to the type of adverse experience suffered. For example, abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) was associated with drug use, neglect (physical and emotional) with school failure and dysfunction at home (alcoholic family member, domestic violence, etc.), with loss of religiosity. In conclusion, there seem to be different coping mechanisms depending on the specific type of maltreatment, which may allow for much earlier and more efficient action and detection by professionals.
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