Psychological resilience and benevolent childhood experiences amongst Egyptian young adults

Abstract

Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) may be associated with resilience in young adulthood, despite exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Yet, past research did not consider BCEs with ACEs when studying resilience. Accordingly, the current study investigated the combined effect of Benevolent and Adverse Childhood Experiences on resilience in a sample of 102 Egyptian young adults who completed the Brief Resilient Coping Scale, Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System Adverse Childhood Experience Module, and Benevolent Childhood Experiences scale. Bootstrapped multiple linear regression was used to test the association between BCEs, ACEs, and resilience. Our results showed that BCEs, but not ACEs, were significantly associated with psychological resilience. BCEs significantly correlated with resilience even after controlling for the presence of ACEs. Our findings suggest that educational interventions aimed at promoting positive experiences during childhood and adolescence may help in nurturing better mental health outcomes. We recommend working towards adopting positive psychology-based policies and programs for young children to promote BCEs, besides preventing ACEs, as this could help strengthen resilience and psychological wellbeing in young adult populations.

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ORCID for Alessio Bellato: orcid.org/0000-0001-5330-6773

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