Childhood trauma does not inevitably lead to poor outcomes in adulthood, new research from UNSW Sydney has found - and many people who experience adversity still thrive for decades afterwards.
Abuse, bullying and household dysfunction in childhood are known to increase the risk of mental illness, but less is known about their long-term impact on mental wellbeing - the positive aspect of mental health.
Now, researchers from UNSW Sydney have mapped how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) shape mental wellbeing across adult life, finding two thirds of people maintained moderate to high mental wellbeing into adulthood despite childhood trauma.
This is compared to more than 85% of study participants who didn't face childhood trauma and stayed in the higher wellbeing group, suggesting while ACEs have a negative impact, they don't lock a child onto a difficult life-long path.
"Childhood adversity can be traumatic, but it doesn't have to determine a person's whole life," says study Chief Investigator Adjunct Professor Justine Gatt.
The 12-year study, published in American Psychologist , uses data from the TWIN-10 longitudinal study, which followed more than 1600 healthy, adult Australian twins at four time points over 12 years, between 2009 and 2024.
Using the COMPAS-W Wellbeing Scale, a 26-item questionnaire designed to evaluate a person's overall mental wellbeing, the researchers measured respondents' composure, own-worth, mastery, positivity, achievement or goal striving, and life satisfaction.
At the 10- and 12-year follow-ups, participants were asked about their mental and physical health, behaviours, and general social functioning.
The team measured 17 types of adverse childhood events, including adoption, extreme poverty and neglect, sustained family conflict, life-threatening illness, and domestic violence.
They also looked at household income, social status, and employment status.
Nearly 900 individuals surveyed faced adverse childhood experiences, and for that group the researchers identified two wellbeing pathways: a "resilient" group who maintained moderate to high wellbeing over time, and a "risk" group whose wellbeing remained low.
Those in the "ACE-resilient" group experienced profound long-term benefits, including being 74% less likely than their low-resilience peers to develop a psychiatric illness, and a greatly lessened risk of becoming obese, suffering from migraines, sleep problems, and alcohol abuse issues.
They also reported better relationships, greater social support, higher life satisfaction and more positive coping strategies.
"What surprised me most was how people can maintain and rebuild their wellbeing over time, even after early adversity," Prof. Gatt says.
"It shows why investing in wellbeing is just as important as treating distress."
Childhood adversity can be traumatic, but it doesn't have to determine a person's whole life.
The findings suggest we should shift how we support people who've experienced childhood trauma.
Instead of focusing only on what's gone wrong, the research points to the value of building up what helps people stay well in the first place.
That means measuring and promoting mental wellbeing - not just psychological distress symptoms - in schools, GP clinics and community services, and treating mental health as something that can be strengthened over time.
The researchers want to see programs that build resilience expanded and argue that a focus on prevention and wellbeing is likely to reduce downstream healthcare costs.
"Mental health should be proactively treated as a positive capacity that can be built, not just a crisis to be managed when things fall apart," Prof. Gatt says.
Prof. Gatt now wants to better understand why those in the resilient group were better able to function after their childhood trauma.
"We need to define the genetic, environmental, psychological and neural characteristics of the resilient group and what differentiates them from those in the risk group," she says.
The team's earlier research found that people with higher wellbeing tended to have healthier ways of dealing with stress, better emotion regulation strategies, and more naturally extraverted and conscientious personalities - traits linked to better social connection.
They were also more likely to live healthier lives overall, with regular exercise, better diets, and time set aside for activities they enjoy, all of which appear to support resilience across the lifespan.
Further research is needed to determine whether these habits and lifestyle choices offer a blueprint for greater resilience among those at increased risk of mental illness.
