Open Access

ARTICLE

Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Subjective Well-Being: The Multiple Mediating Roles of Shyness and Emotion Regulation Strategies

Dan Li¹, Jiayu Chen¹, Biyu Jiang¹, Ce Sun^2,*, Huazhan Yin^1,*

1 School of Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
2 Center of Mental Health Education, Linli No. 1 Middle School, Changde, 415299, China

* Corresponding Authors: Ce Sun. Email: ; Huazhan Yin. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Exploring the Impact of School Bullying, Aggression and Childhood Trauma in the Digital Age: Influencing Factors, Interventions, and Prevention Methods)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2025, 27(3), 347-361. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2025.059151

Received 29 September 2024; Accepted 17 December 2024; Issue published 31 March 2025

Abstract

Objectives: The statistics from World Health Organization show a high incidence of childhood maltreatment which has a negative impact on the development of middle school students; for this reason, it is necessary to investigate the potential harms of childhood maltreatment. This study aimed to explore the direct negative consequences of childhood maltreatment on subjective well-being as well as the mediating roles of shyness and emotion regulation strategies. Methods: A random cluster sampling survey was conducted among 1021 Chinese middle school students (male 49.2%, female 50.8%). The Subjective Well-Being Scale (SWLS), The Positive affect and Negative affect scale (PANAS), and The Childhood Trauma were adopted Questionnaire-28 item Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS), and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) for data collection. SPSS PROCESS macros were used for data analysis. Results: The findings demonstrated that: (a) childhood maltreatment was negatively correlated with subjective well-being (r = −0.482, p < 0.001); (b) shyness (β = −0.141, 95% CI = [−0.190, −0.097]) and the two emotion regulation strategies, namely cognitive reappraisal (β = −0.120, 95% CI = [−0.167,−0.079]) and expression suppression (β = −0.034, 95% CI = [−0.063, −0.010]), partially mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and subjective well-being separately; (c) shyness and the two emotion regulation strategies partially mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and subjective well-being in a sequential pattern (β = −0.026, 95% CI = [−0.041,−0.015]; β = −0.022, 95% CI = [−0.035, −0.012]). Conclusion: These findings provide new perspectives and strategies to understand and deal with children’s mental health problems. It shows that the intervention of shyness and emotion regulation strategies in adolescents is of great significance to improve individual subjective happiness.

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Keywords

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