Investigation of the correlation between childhood trauma, psychological well-being, and altruistic fear of crime of mothers with children aged three to six years

Abstract

Childhood is the period during which physical and mental development is extremely rapid from the first years of life. Furthermore, many basic factors affecting the future lives of individuals start to be shaped. The child's future life, psychological well-being, and quality of life are negatively affected by the exposure to unwanted situations by the family or the environment during this period. As a matter of fact, behavior patterns exhibited by individuals during adulthood are thought to be correlated with childhood traumas. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between the altruistic fear of crime, psychological well-being, and childhood traumas among mothers with children aged three to six years. A cross-sectional correlation research design was used for this study. The sample of the study consisted of 214 volunteer mothers, whose children were attending a private preschool education institution in the city center of Gumushane province of Turkey during the 2019/2020 academic year. The research data were collected using "Personal Information Form", "Childhood Trauma Questionnaire", "Altruistic Fear of Crime Scale" and "Psychological Well-being Scale". Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and correlation analysis. The results of the research showed that the age of the mothers, birth order, presence of any family member receiving psychological support, and marital satisfaction caused significant differences. Furthermore, scores obtained from "Personal Information Form", "Childhood Trauma Questionnaire", "Altruistic Fear of Crime" and "Psychological Well-being Scale" were found to be significantly correlated.