Life experience pathways to college student emotional and mental health: A structural equation model

Positive Childhood Experiences and Spiritual Well-Being: Psychological Flexibility and Meaning-Based Coping as Mediators in Turkish Sample

Spiritual well-being enhances life quality, acts as a stress reliever, and mitigates unfavorable feelings. It helps individuals find meaning and purpose, increasing inner peace and happiness while improving stress management and overall well-being. This study examined whether positive childhood experiences are linked to spiritual well-being and if psychological flexibility and meaning-based coping serve as mediators. The sample included 1061 participants (Mage = 39.38; SD = 8.82) from various Turkish cities. Structural equation modeling assessed relationships between spiritual well-being, positive childhood experiences, psychological flexibility, and meaning-based coping. Results showed that positive childhood experiences directly enhance spiritual well-being, mediated by psychological flexibility and meaning-based coping. This underscores the significance of fostering positive childhood experiences to promote spiritual well-being and coping mechanisms.

How positive childhood experiences foster college students' adjustment: the role of sibling number and self-esteem

Introduction

In recent years, growing concern has emerged regarding the mental health and well-being of college students who confront numerous challenges and transitions during their higher education journey. This research aims to investigate the influence of positive childhood experiences on the adaptability of college students and the underlying mechanisms.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 5,787 college students from Chinese universities. Participants completed an online questionnaire assessing positive childhood experiences, self-esteem, the number of siblings, and China college students' adjustment.

Results

The results revealed that positive childhood experiences positively predicted the adjustment of China college students, with self-esteem playing a mediating role in this positive effect. Moreover, siblings played an antagonistic moderating role in the positive effect of positive childhood experiences on China college students' adjustment.

Discussion

It is recommended to enhance positive childhood experiences, improve self-esteem, and provide additional care and support to students from multi-sibling families to enhance China college students' adjustment.

Positive Childhood Experiences and Chronic Pain Among Children and Adolescents in the United States

Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) are associated with better mental and physical health outcomes and moderate the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). However, knowledge of the associations between PCEs and childhood chronic pain is limited. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 2019 to 2020 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) to evaluate associations between PCEs and childhood chronic pain. Parents of 47,514 children ages 6 to 17 years old reported on their child's exposure to 7 PCEs and 9 ACEs. Associations between PCEs and chronic pain were evaluated using weighted, multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for sociodemographic factors. We found that PCEs had dose-dependent associations with pediatric chronic pain; children exposed to higher numbers of PCEs (5-7 PCEs) had the lowest reported rate of chronic pain (7.1%), while children exposed to 2 or fewer PCEs had the highest rate of chronic pain (14.7%). The adjusted analysis confirmed that children experiencing 5 to 7 PCEs had significantly lower odds of chronic pain relative to children experiencing 0 to 2 PCEs (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): .47, 95% confidence interval (CI): .39-.61, P < .0001). PCEs moderated associations between ACEs and chronic pain: among children reporting 2 or more ACEs, those reporting 5 to 7 PCEs were significantly less likely to report chronic pain as compared to children only reporting 0 to 2 PCEs (aOR: .64, 95%CI: .45-.89, P = .009). In conclusion, children with greater PCEs exposure had lower prevalence rates of chronic pain. Furthermore, PCEs was associated with reduced prevalence of chronic pain among children exposed to ACEs. PERSPECTIVE: This article estimates associations between survey-measured PCEs and pediatric chronic pain among children in the United States. Promoting PCEs could improve pediatric pain outcomes.