The Effect Of Childhood Trauma On Romantic Relationship Satisfaction: The Chain Mediating Role Of Self-esteem And Perceived Partner Responsiveness

Romantic relationship is an important relationship in college students.The influential factors of romantic relationship satisfaction have received extensive attention of the researchers.As a distal factor,childhood trauma experience negatively affects adult relationship satisfaction,but its mechanism is still unknown.Moreover,the proximal factor called perceived partner responsiveness(PPR)is a central determining factor of relationship satisfaction.Among the factors of perceived partner responsiveness(PPR),self-esteem had attracted researchers` attention.However,as a major element of self-evaluation,self-esteem was influenced by the early experiences of individuals.Self-esteem,the feeling of self-worth,was influenced by early relationships and had an effect on the current interpersonal relations.It is an important mediating variable in the relationship between childhood trauma experience and perceived partner responsiveness.Previous studies revealed that childhood trauma experience could contribute to low self-esteem,decrease the romantic relationship satisfaction.While self-esteem was positively related to perceived partner responsiveness.Perceived partner responsiveness will directly affect the individual relationship satisfaction.Focusing on childhood trauma experience,self-esteem,perceived partner responsiveness as well as romantic relationship satisfaction,we can not only integrate the distal and proximal factors of romantic relationship satisfaction to explore the mechanism of the relationship between childhood trauma experience and relationship satisfaction but also enrich the research on childhood trauma experience and romantic relationship satisfaction.Thus,based on the internal working model and the sociometer theory on self-esteem,the present study aims to explore the mediation roles of selfesteem and PPR in the association between childhood trauma experience and romantic relationship satisfaction in our culture.Therefore,the researcher carried out the following two sub-studies:Study 1,Revised the general perceived responsiveness scale.First of all,the researcher translated this scale into Chinese,using the forward–backward translation technique.Secondly,the selected 809 subjects for predicted testing and 500 subjects for formal testing were asked to fill out the predicted questionnaire and revised questionnaire,all these subjects had experience of romantic relationship.And then the exploratory factor analysis,confirmatory factor analysis and tests of reliability and validity were conducted.Study 2,In order to explore the relationships among childhood trauma experience,self-esteem,PPR and romantic relationship satisfaction,the researcher choose 500 college students who had romantic relationship experience as subjects.The subjects were investigated with such instruments as Childhood Trauma Questionnaire,The SelfEsteem Scale,Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale,Positive Feelings Questionnaire.The data processing was accomplished by SPSS23.0 and the SPSS process written by Hayes(2012)(http://www.afhayes.com).Conclusions of two sub-studies:(1)the perceived partner responsiveness scale,has good reliability and validity,which is suited for the requirements of psychometrics and it can be used as a measurement tool for perceived partner responsiveness of college students;(2)childhood trauma experience was negatively associated with romantic relationship satisfaction,and negatively associated with self-esteem and PPR;(3)childhood trauma experience affects romantic relationship satisfaction mainly through three ways: through the mediating role of self-esteem;through the mediating roles of both self-esteem and PPR;through the mediating role of PPR.