Childhood trauma and posttraumatic growth: A systematic review & cognitive and affective predictors of wayfinding in a virtual maze

Abstract

Both chapters of this doctoral thesis focus on investigating the impact of childhood adversity. The first chapter is a systematic review which aimed to identify, summarise and critically evaluate the research investigating the relationship between childhood trauma and posttraumatic growth (PTG), including mediating and moderating factors. Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search on three electronic databases (PsychInfo, Medline and Web of Science), nine articles were identified to meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A quality assessment of the nine included studies was conducted and a narrative synthesis undertaken. Six of the nine studies included in the review found a nonsignificant relationship between childhood trauma and PTG. Significant mediations included avoidant coping, social support, intrusions, emotion regulation difficulties, attachment style, acceptance, trauma event centrality and resilience. Significant moderators included social and emotional resources and the presence of prosocial adults. Limitations and implications for clinical practice and future research were discussed. The second chapter is an empirical paper, which aimed to test a central claim of the theory of latent vulnerability by using an experimental design to examine whether bias to threat poses an advantage within an adverse environment and whether this advantage is predicted by ACEs and symptoms of anxiety, paranoia and depression. Upon completion of a pilot phase which used a sample of university students (n=12) recruited via SONA, the experimental study recruited a general adult population sample (n=105) via Prolific. Participants completed one flanker task assessing bias to threat and four self-report questionnaires assessing ACEs and symptoms of depression, anxiety and paranoia. Participants completed two virtual maze tasks assessing spatial navigation in neutral and adverse environments. Multiple linear regressions revealed that bias to threat did not predict maze latency, and that neither ACEs nor current symptoms of depression, anxiety or paranoia predicted maze. Pearson’s correlation evidenced significant associations between different indicators of bias to threat, ACEs and latency variance. Limitations, implications and future research were discussed.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Dennis Golm: orcid.org/0000-0002-2950-7935

ORCID for Lyn Ellett: orcid.org/0000-0002-6051-3604

ORCID for Matthew Garner: orcid.org/0000-0001-9481-2226

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