Exploring the Mediating Role of Stress in the Relationship between Childhood Trauma and Personality Traits

Abstract

The present study investigates the relationship between childhood trauma, perceived stress, and maladaptive personality traits, and examines the mediating role of stress in this relationship within a non-clinical Indian adult population. A total of 135 participants aged 18–35 years were administered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Brief form (CTQ- BF), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the DSM 5 Personality Inventory Brief Form (PID- 5-BF). Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to assess associations between subtypes of childhood trauma and the five maladaptive personality domains: negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism. Along with it, a mediation analysis was done to study the mediating role of stress in the relationship between childhood trauma and the development of personality traits. Results revealed significant positive correlations between emotional and physical abuse and several maladaptive traits, particularly detachment (r = .471, p < .01), psychoticism (r = .461, p < .01), and antagonism (r = .370, p < .01). An independent samples t-test showed that individuals with higher levels of childhood trauma reported significantly greater perceived stress (M = 70.1, SD = 9.02) than those with low or no trauma (M = 50.0, SD = 5.18), with a large effect size (Welch’s t = 16.1, p < .001, Cohen’s d = 2.72). Mediation analysis confirmed that stress significantly mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and personality traits (indirect effect = 0.0959, p = .038), while the direct effect was non-significant (p = .221), indicating full mediation.