Author(s)

H.M Tian ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Department of Psychology, Huaiyin Normal University, Huai'an, 223300, China

Corresponding Author

H.M Tian

ABSTRACT

Childhood trauma is an important predictor of negative emotions in individuals, and the underlying mechanism of this relationship has received relatively less research. This study explores the continuous mediating role of psychological resilience and life meaning in the relationship between childhood trauma and negative emotions. A questionnaire survey was administered to 646 university students at a certain institution using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Short Version of the Psychological Resilience Scale, the Life Meaning Scale, and the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale. The results showed (1)Childhood trauma was significantly negatively correlated with psychological resilience and sense of life meaning, and significantly positively correlated with negative emotions; psychological resilience and sense of life meaning were significantly negatively correlated with negative emotions; (2) Mediation analysis revealed that childhood trauma influences negative emotions through the independent mediating roles of psychological resilience and sense of life meaning, as well as the serial mediating role between these two factors; the mediating effect accounted for 31.438% of the total effect. The study found that psychological resilience and life meaning play a a chain-like mediating role in the path from childhood trauma to negative emotions, highlighting their potential as intervention targets, and helping to alleviate the psychological impacts of early adversity on college students.

KEYWORDS

Childhood trauma; Negative emotions; Psychological resilience; Sense of life meaning

CITE THIS PAPER

H.M Tian. Childhood trauma and negative emotions: The chain-mediated role of psychological resilience and sense of life meaning. Applied & Educational Psychology (2026). Vol. 7, No. 2, 75-81. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/appep.2026.070210.

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