Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Ester Navarro Garcia

Second Advisor

Dana Chesney

Abstract

There is consistent evidence concerning the impact of trauma on children and the effects on psychological well-being. This study aims to investigate the impact of childhood trauma on the psychological resilience, mental health, and physical development of culturally diverse individuals. The study also explores the influence of cultural orientation on psychological and physical well-being. Cultural orientation is the degree to which individuals identify with either individualism or collectivism, two core dimensions of cultural frameworks. The self-construal scale was applied to address the cultural orientation, which significantly covers individualistic and collectivistic aspects. The participants were 97 culturally diverse students from St. John’s University. Participants completed self-questionnaires assessing childhood trauma, resilience, individualism, collectivism, and psychological health. Psychological well-being was assessed across six domains: Automatic regulation, boosted control, integration of importance, perceived competence, relatedness, significance, and identity. The participants with a collectivistic orientation have higher levels of psychological resilience and self-estimated health than those with an individualistic orientation, depending on the type of trauma experienced and on the time that elapsed from the occurrence of trauma. The study provides evidence that culturally sensitive trauma treatment paradigms promote better recovery in trauma survivors, hence subsequent positive psychological and physical health.

Keywords: Childhood trauma, psychological resilience, cultural orientation, collectivism, individualism, mental health, physical well-being, trauma intervention

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