Perceived social support and self-esteem mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing in Chinese undergraduate students

The association between childhood maltreatment and well-being is not entirely understood. This study builds upon existing findings by adopting a comprehensive indicator of well-being, psychosocial flourishing, to further examine the association. Guided by the Risky Families Model, the social support deterioration model, and attachment theory, we also tested the mediating roles of both other-focused resilience (perceived social support) and self-focused resilience (self-esteem) in the association between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing. In total, 1622 Chinese undergraduate students completed measures on childhood maltreatment, perceived social support, self-esteem, and psychosocial flourishing. Results of the correlation analyses showed negative and significant relationships between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing, perceived social support and self-esteem. Moreover, there were positive and significant relationships between perceived social support, self-esteem, and psychosocial flourishing. Structural equation modeling revealed that perceived social support and self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing. The indirect effect of perceived social support was stronger than that of self-esteem. These findings indicate that perceived social support and self-esteem are important factors in the associations between childhood maltreatment and psychosocial flourishing in undergraduate students. Results are discussed and suggestions for school counselors and mental health professionals are presented.