Emotion Regulation Mediates Posttraumatic Growth and Cluster B Personality Traits After Childhood Trauma

Abstract

ObjectivesCluster B personality disorder traits and positive psychological change, known as posttraumatic growth (PTG), are both possible outcomes following childhood trauma. However, existing research has not yet explored whether emotion regulation difficulties can simultaneously explain these negative and positive changes.MethodA sample of childhood trauma survivors (N = 223) provided responses to an online survey, with findings assessed using structural equation modeling techniques.ResultsEmotion regulation difficulties were found to mediate between childhood trauma severity and cluster B traits (abcs = −.05), and between childhood trauma severity and PTG (abcs = .13), with small to medium indirect effects. The final model accounted for more variance in cluster B traits (56%) than PTG (10%).ConclusionsEmotion regulation is therefore a key mediator of positive and negative psychological changes and should be the focus of intervention efforts among childhood trauma survivors.