Profiles of parental bonding and childhood trauma in a clinical sample: Implications for coping strategies in adulthood among Chinese young adults.

BACKGROUND

Childhood experiences significantly influence psychological development, yet how combined patterns of parental bonding and childhood trauma affect adult coping strategies remains underexplored. This study aimed to identify distinct profiles based on parental bonding and trauma experiences among Chinese clinical outpatients and examine their relationship with adaptive and maladaptive coping behaviours.

METHODS

A latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed on data from 1074 clinical outpatients (aged 18-25) recruited from a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Shanghai, China. Profiles were generated based on scores from the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Associations between identified profiles and coping strategies, assessed via the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), were evaluated using the BCH method.

FINDINGS: Three distinct profiles emerged: Secure-Adjusted (high parental care, low trauma; n = 564, 42 %), Ambivalent-Strained (moderate parental care, high parental control; n = 446, 52 %), and Disorganized-Adversity (low parental care, severe trauma; n = 65, 6.0 %). Secure-Adjusted individuals displayed the highest use of adaptive coping strategies and the lowest negative coping. In contrast, the Disorganized-Adversity group exhibited significantly higher reliance on negative coping. Ambivalent-Strained participants showed intermediate adaptive coping levels but did not significantly differ from Secure-Adjusted in maladaptive coping.

INTERPRETATION: Distinct profiles based on parental bonding and childhood trauma associated with differing coping strategies in adulthood. These findings underscore the critical impact of relational experiences on coping mechanisms, emphasizing the necessity for targeted psychological interventions addressing both familial dynamics and trauma history to enhance emotional resilience among vulnerable populations.