It is known that negative childhood experiences can increase the risk of developing mental health problems, but that sad fact alone does not explain every individual who develops mental distress later on.
In a recent study, researchers set out to examine how people’s life histories affected the development of psychopathology – the abnormal thoughts and behaviors that often underlie mental disorders.
As we would expect, the results of the study were mixed: negative childhood experiences may indeed manifest as anxiety or other mental disorders later in life, but the absence of such experiences is no guarantee that you will be free from the subsequent ones. psychological problems, scientists say.
“This research shows that mental illness is not determined by early life events alone,” explains evolutionary psychologist Bianca Kahl of the University of South Australia.
“A child who is brought up in a happy family can still grow up with a mental illness.”
This may sound like an obvious result, but it’s an important piece of research that helps break the stigma that mental health problems only occur in some people.
In the study, Kahl and fellow researchers surveyed 343 participants through an online questionnaire, asking them about their family and upbringing, along with various questions about the nature of their developmental trajectory, mental health, general well-being, and the nature of their relationships and attachments. . today.
“The study was specifically designed to investigate whether life history traits were related to a common factor of psychopathology or whether they could also predict specific symptom groups,” the authors explain in their paper.
In this context, life history characteristics are part of what is called life history theory – a framework for analyzing how different types of life strategies can influence the patterns and experiences people go through over time.
In a very simplified sense, life history strategies can be characterized as fast or slow, where fast often means impulsive and present-oriented decision-making and behavior, as opposed to slow traits, which reflect more deliberative, forward-looking decision-making. behaviour.
What Kahl and her team set out to analyze was whether fast or slow life strategies were predictive of an overall “ p-factor, ” representing an overall risk or likelihood of developing psychopathology and related mental disorders, which have been linked in the past. turned out to be standing. with quick life history strategies.
“We wanted to answer the research question: How are different symptoms of psychopathology mapped on the fast-slow life history continuum?” write the researchers.
“Our hypothesis was that childhood attachment would moderate the association between the early life environment and symptoms of psychopathology, with those who had greater perceived parental support potentially buffered by the effect of the harshness of the childhood environment, and in turn. would report fewer symptoms of psychopathology. “
In the study, the team found that faster life history traits were associated with general psychopathology, but the results showed that some symptoms of psychopathology were in fact associated with slow life history traits.
“Poor parental support and lower socioeconomic status were associated with higher rates of general psychopathology, for women and men, respectively,” the team explains.
“These findings are complementary to previous works showing a link between perceived adversity and the p factor.”
Beyond that general association, however, the symptoms of psychopathology were somewhat divided, with the results showing that interpersonal sensitivity and depression were more likely in those with a faster life history strategy, while somatization and anxiety were greater in those with a slower life history strategy.
In terms of whether a happy childhood (in particular, perceived parental support) acted as a sort of buffer against psychopathology, the researchers found that their hypothesis was not supported by the data – suggesting that the relationship is more complex and a direction for the future. research indicates. so we can find out what’s really going on here.
“We suspect that it is our expectations about our environment and our ability to adapt to scenarios when our expectations are not met that can affect our experiences of need,” says Kahl.
“As children, if we learn how to adapt to change and how to cope when things aren’t going well, we can respond better to stress and other risk factors for poor mental health.”
The findings are reported in Current Psychology.