Unearthing the Shadows of the Past: A Comparative Exploration of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Psychological Sequelae on Depression and Resilience Across Demographic Factors in the Delhi-NCR

Abstract

This study delves into how the hidden scars of adverse childhood experiences shape the emotional landscape of depression and the protective force of resilience. Adverse childhood experiences, the experiences children encounter often leaves a lasting impression not only on their memory, but have a significant effect on their mental wellbeing and the physical wellbeing. The childhood experiences or those unsettling, often hidden chapters of life that can reverberate well into the adulthood. Depression has a major influence on everyday functioning and quality of life and is characterized by persistent feeling of sadness, despair, hopelessness and disinterest in the activities that were enjoyed earlier. Resilience is the process of effectively overcoming obstacles and failures in one’s own life experiences, especially via the growth of behavioral, emotional, and mental flexibility and adaptation to both internal and external stimuli. The tools implemented in the study are the Adverse childhood experiences adult questionnaire (1998), Patient health questionnaire (2001), and Brief Resilience scale (2008). The data was collected online through Printed questionnaire using the snowball sampling method. The present study collected the total data of 120 individuals with 59 male and 61 females. The study also focuses on the demographic factors such as comparing the age groups, gender, the employee or a college student. The results of the study show that ACEs have a detrimental effect on resilience and a substantial positive link between depression and ACEs. In other terms means, that there is a strong association between higher ACE levels and depression, and that lower resilience is linked to higher ACE levels. The study concludes with finding the influence of ACEs on depression and resilience and its own limitations to the study.