Effects of Childhood Stressful Life Events on Subjective Well-being in Adulthood

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood based on the stress process model. In addition, the study investigates the roles of ones internal and external resources, specifically self-esteem and social support, in the relationship between childhood stressful life events and subjective well-being in adulthood. Well-being is an inevitable factor for happier and healthier lives, and thus an important value in the field of social welfare. Unfortunately, the World Happiness Report 2022 overtly presents the poor subjective well-being score of Korea with the rank of 36th among 38 OECD countries. Considering Koreas high rank in the Human Development Index, which measures income, education, and health, it can be inferred that mental health in Korea falls short compared to the countrys prosperity in other areas. Despite the Korean governments various efforts to strengthen mental health, the score of subjective well-being is still in the decline. Therefore, there is a need to study the factors of subjective well-being at a broader perspective. As a result, this study focused on childhood stressful life events as one of the factors affecting subjective well-being in adulthood as childhood experiences can have a vast impact on mental health outcomes in adulthood. In addition, the study scrutinizes the mechanism behind the dynamic process between childhood stressful life events, subjective well-being in adulthood, and ones internal and external resources, specifically self-esteem and social support. In order to address the purpose of the study, the research questions are as follows. Firstly, do childhood stressful life events affect subjective well-being in adulthood? Secondly, does self-esteem mediate the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood? Thirdly, does social support mediate the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood? Fourthly, does self-esteem moderate the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood? Fifthly, does social support moderate the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood? The study utilized wave 1 to wave 16 (2006 ~ 2021) integrated data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS). The total sample size was 10,059. To examine the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood, multiple linear regression analysis using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation method was conducted. Secondly, to explore the mediating effects of self-esteem and social support in the relationship between childhood stressful life events and subjective well-being in adulthood, multiple linear regression analysis using OLS estimation method was used and Baron and Kennys (1986) method for mediation was followed. Then, to test the significance of mediation effect, SPSS Process Macro model 4 was employed. Lastly, to study the moderating effects of self-esteem and social support, hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis using OLS estimation method was carried out. The studys findings are as follows. Firstly, childhood stressful life events negatively affected the levels of subjective well-being in adulthood. Secondly, self-esteem and social support did mediate the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood. Nevertheless, self-esteem and social support did not moderate the effects of childhood stressful life events on subjective well-being in adulthood. Based on the studys findings, the theoretical implications are discussed. Firstly, by demonstrating that childhood stressful life events negatively affect subjective well-being in adulthood, it supported Pearlin et al.s (1981) stress process model which explains the process between a stressor, mediators, and an outcome. The studys findings supported that childhood stressful life events do act as a stressor that has a negative impact on mental health outcome, and that ones internal and external resources work as mediators in the relationship between a stressor and an outcome. Furthermore, by proving that the negative effects of childhood stressful life events last until adulthood, it provided practical grounds on the life course perspective which asserts that childhood experiences can alter outcomes in adulthood. As to the implications for practice and policy, as childhood stressful life events have been identified as one of the factors influencing the level of subjective well-being in adulthood, there is a need to adopt broader perspective and consider childhood experiences in the intervention measures. Next, there is also a need to strengthen early intervention measures and policies to prevent negative effects of stressful life events during childhood to prolong until adulthood. Although the Dream Start Programs, that have been introduced to prevent harmful effects from childhood stressful life events to persist until later stages in life, have been expanding, there has been criticisms arguing that it lacks budget, labour, and relevant infrastructure to be completely effective. Thirdly, there is a need to devise intervention measures to aid adults with childhood stressful life events, such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioural intervention. Lastly, the limitations of the study are discussed. Firstly, there is a fundamental limitation in understanding the causal relationship between the variables. Secondly, the responses to childhood experiences utilized in the study were measured retrospectively, and therefore have a possibility of recollection bias. Thirdly, despite the broad conceptualization of the variables in the study, the operationalizations of the variables were limited and could not completely capture the deeper context of each variable. Lastly, the independent variable of the study was produced by adding responses to five different childhood stressful life events to explore the accumulated effects of childhood experiences on outcomes in adulthood. As a result, the study could not consider the hierarchy and the depth of each experiences effects on subjective well-being in adulthood.