Exploring The Influence of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Behavioural Addictions and the Mediating Role of Life Skills

Abstract

This study explores the influence of adverse childhood experiences on the development of behavioural addictions like food addiction, problem gambling and social media addiction in the Indian population. It also attempted to understand the mediating role of life skills between adverse childhood experiences and behavioural addictions. There were 153 participant responses collected through an online survey by convenience sampling. Data was collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire consisting of demographic information and a separate scale for each variable. The majority of participants in the study were females (73%). Furthermore, the results found a significant positive correlation between adverse childhood experiences and social media addiction (r=0.171, p < .05) and the mediation analysis model significantly predicted food addiction (Effect = 0.03, 95% C.I. (0.02, 0.09)) as well as social media addiction (Effect = 0.18, 95% C.I. (0.01, 0.45)). The findings indicate that adverse childhood experiences can lead to social media addiction later in life. The result of the mediation analysis shows the indirect effect of adverse childhood experiences via life skills on food addiction and social media addiction and addresses the partial mediating role of life skills between adverse childhood experiences and behavioural addictions.