Copyright
©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Self-compassion and resilience mediate the relationship between childhood exposure to domestic violence and posttraumatic growth/stress disorder during COVID-19 pandemic
Xin-Li Chi, Qiao-Min Huang, Xiao-Feng Liu, Liu-Yue Huang, Meng-Jian Hu, Zhi-Jing Chen, Can Jiao, Brendon Stubbs, M Mahbub Hossain, Li-Ye Zou
Xin-Li Chi, Liu-Yue Huang, Meng-Jian Hu, Zhi-Jing Chen, Can Jiao, Institute of KEEP Collaborative Innovation, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong Province, China
Qiao-Min Huang, Guangdong Polytechnic, Foshan 528041, Guangdong Province, China
Xiao-Feng Liu, Longhua No. 2 Experimental School Affiliated Hongchuang Kindergarten, Shenzhen 518100, Guangdong Province, China
Brendon Stubbs, Physiotherapy Department, South London & Maudsley NHS Fdn Trust, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
Brendon Stubbs, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
M Mahbub Hossain, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, Texas, TX 77843, United States
Li-Ye Zou, Exercise Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of KEEP Collaborative Innovation, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Chi XL drafted the manuscript, completed the literature searches, and revised the final version of the manuscript; Huang QM drafted the manuscript and performed the statistical analyses; Liu XF, Huang LY, Jiao C, Stubbs B, and Hossain MM drafted the manuscript; Hu MJ and Chen ZJ revised the manuscript and performed the statistical analyses; Zou LY contributed to the study design.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Medical Department of Shenzhen University (Approval No. 2020005).
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author(s) declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at liyezou123@gmail.com. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Li-Ye Zou, PhD, Professor, Exercise Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of KEEP Collaborative Innovation, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, No. 3688 Nanhai Avenue, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong Province, China. liyezou123@gmail.com
Received: February 11, 2021
Peer-review started: February 11, 2021
First decision: March 16, 2021
Revised: May 2, 2021
Accepted: July 16, 2021
Article in press: July 16, 2021
Published online: November 19, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
It was reported that domestic violence had a 30 percent incidence, which always happened in front of children or adolescents, causing an increased risk of psychological problems such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. But some people who are exposed to domestic violence perform positive changes in psychology such as posttraumatic growth (PTG). It is unclear whether PTG and PTSD share a common underlying mechanism. The present study is exploratory to reveal it during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Research motivation
Based on the shattered world assumption theory, the PTG model, and conservation of resources theory, this study hypothesized that the self-compassion and resilience are the common factors for PTG and PTSD. The present study addressed the mediator roles of self-compassion and resilience. It may inform future mental health interventions for certain individuals.
Research objectives
The present study aimed to explore the common mechanism of PTG and PTSD, revealing the mediating role of self-compassion and resilience between exposure to domestic violence and PTG/PTSD.
Research methods
A nationwide cross-sectional online survey was conducted in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data was collected using the Chinese version of revised Adverse Childhood Experiences Question, Self-compassion Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, PT Growth Inventory, and the Abbreviated PTSD Checklist-Civilian version. A structural equation model was conducted to analyze the data.
Research results
The path analysis indicated that exposure to domestic violence was significantly correlated with PTG and PTSD via a 1-step indirect path of self-compassion and via a 2-step indirect path from self-compassion to resilience. The 1-step indirect path of resilience did not reach significance.
Research conclusions
PTG and PTSD share a common mechanism for those who were exposed to domestic violence. Those who perform a lower level of self-compassion would tend to difficultly bounce back to normal, causing an increased risk of PTSD and decreased possibility of PTG, and vice versa.
Research perspectives
From a clinical perspective, the intervention study could be considered in investigating the roles of self-compassion and resilience for vulnerable individuals.
