Overcoming the Odds: The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity, Lifetime Trauma, and Resiliency in Empathy and Conscientiousness

Abstract

The connection between trauma and the development of resiliency is not well understood or agreed upon, especially when examining the link between that relationship and other characteristics defined by adaptability, such as empathy and conscientiousness. In two studies, the relationship between each concept was examined in healthy adults. Study one examined recollected childhood adversity's correlation with total resiliency and empathy. Study two examined recollected childhood adversity and overall lifetime trauma's correlation with resiliency, empathy, and their subconstructs (i.e., intrapersonal and interpersonal resiliency, and cognitive and affective empathy) and compared those to conscientiousness scores. Study one's findings supported positive relationships between recollected childhood adversity, total resiliency, and empathy. Study two's findings showed that cumulative trauma scores were positively associated with interpersonal resiliency and affective empathy. Further, interpersonal resiliency was negatively correlated with conscientiousness, while intrapersonal resiliency was positively correlated with conscientiousness.