History of childhood adversity and coping strategies: Positive flow and creative experiences

Abstract

Background: Acquiring more complex coping strategies despite a history of childhood adversity may transpire in settings outside the family home.

Objectives: The objectives of this cross-sectional study included investigating coping strategies under stressful situations in a non-clinical sample of active athletes and performing artists.

Participants and setting: In this community and university sample (n = 577), 40.4% had no ACEs, 43.4% had 1-3 ACEs, and 16.3% had ≥4 ACEs.

Methods: A series of multivariate analyses (gender and age included as covariates) were conducted to examine differences between the three ACE groups.

Results: Results indicated no between-subject differences between the three ACE groups for flow-like experiences during preferred activities, although gender differences were significant (p < .001). Individuals in the ≥4 ACEs group endorsed more intense creative experiences compared to the no-ACE and 1-3 ACEs groups (p = .006, η² = .048); however, in the third MANCOVA they had heightened anxiety, internalized shame, dissociative processing, emotion-oriented coping, and cumulative trauma (p < .001, η² = .132). There were no group differences for task-oriented and avoidant-oriented coping, a finding that highlights the ability of active individuals to engage in effective coping strategies under stressful situations.

Conclusion: Regardless of past childhood adversity history, this non-clinical high achieving sample was able to engage in a range of coping strategies under stress.

Keywords: Adverse childhood experience (ACE); Coping strategies; Creativity; Flow.