Researching trauma experienced during adolescence is crucial to understanding the way in which an individual’s brain processes relationships in adulthood. Such events often cause developmental issues in children that may hinder their perception of their surroundings. My research aims to fill the gap in the understanding of the effects trauma has on a person’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns. I hypothesized that trauma in adolescence has a severe effect on the individual’s ability to maintain relationships in adulthood; as well as the effect of different categories of trauma having separate implications. My initial research question inquired “What are the effects of trauma during childhood and an individual’s ability to maintain relationships into adulthood?”
The twelve types of trauma I have identified as the most prevalent are 1. Bullying; 2. Child abuse/Neglect; 3. Domestic Violence; 4. Emotional Trauma; 5. Intimate Partner Violence; 6. Medical Trauma; 7. Physical Abuse; 8. Sexual Abuse; 9. Substance abuse; 10. Traumatic grief; 11. Verbal Abuse; 12. Violence in the Community. I identified these through extensive research that explained the commonality of such forms of trauma. They also mentioned minority trauma and a few others, but I grouped that with bullying because the descriptions aligned almost exactly. Because of this, my survey asks the age and form of trauma each participant experienced, and how it consequently affected both their mental health and relationships in adulthood. This is crucial to understanding how a variety of people are affected by childhood trauma and their ways of coping with such.
Significance
The significance of this research is to aid any reader or potential psychologist in understanding themselves and others. I aim to identify ways in which to help through a variety of therapeutic interventions and group meetings. Understanding the relationships between the categories of trauma may allow the individual to recognize the patterns they exhibit similar to those who participated in my survey. I also hope to fill the gap in understanding the connection that results from a multitude of experiences and exposure to traumatic events. I believe this will help anyone interested in the topic to further their knowledge on how best to help an individual with each specific form(s) of trauma.
Lit Review
Neurobiological Effects
Studies suggest that exposure to trauma during adolescence can impact neurobiological development, particularly in regions associated with emotion regulation and interpersonal functioning. Changes in the brain’s stress response system may contribute to difficulties in forming and maintaining secure attachments in adulthood.
According to psychologist Nadine Burke Harris, children who grow up in abusive households are much more likely to abuse substances, and “twelve times more likely to commit suicide” than those who do not (Nadine Harris, 2015). Licensed mental health professional, Greg Douglas classifies three types of trauma victims, namely “the wounded child, an adaptive child, or a functional adult.” The wounded child will behave the same way to abuse in adulthood as they did in adolescence, often protecting themselves from further psychological damage. The adaptive child is influenced by their abuser in childhood, and as a result, will portray the same characteristics as they believe it is the only way to avoid manipulation and abuse. The functional adult responds to trauma by resolving the conflict either externally or internally, leaving behind the behaviors of the wounded and adaptive child. This is the most mature and healthy way to deal with trauma, but often requires professional help to overcome it. Adolescent trauma has also been linked to disruptions in attachment patterns. Insecure attachment styles, such as anxious or avoidant attachments, may develop as adaptive responses to early adversity. These attachment patterns can significantly affect the quality of adult relationships, leading to challenges in trust, intimacy, and communication.
Impact on Interpersonal Skills
Trauma survivors often face difficulties in developing effective interpersonal skills. Adolescents who experience trauma may struggle with emotion regulation, empathy, and social cognition, hindering their ability to navigate complex social dynamics in adulthood. These can often lead to a difficulty trusting others, constant yearning for perfection, people pleasing, and dissociation. This can often lead to little desire to connect or bond with others in fear of repeating traumatic experiences. These challenges can also manifest in difficulties establishing and sustaining meaningful connections. This hindrance on an individual’s social ability leaves them more vulnerable to abusive relationships. For this reason, adolescent trauma survivors may be at an increased risk of revictimization in adulthood. Unresolved trauma can contribute to engaging in relationships characterized by reenactment of past patterns, potentially perpetuating cycles of abuse or dysfunction. Victims may “build an emotional attachment because they convince themselves it is love” and is the only form of relationships they are accustomed with (Deborha Quinn 2023). This builds a form of relationship called a trauma bond. A trauma bond is a relationship where the victim experiences affection for an abuser who exhibits the same behavior patterns as the people who traumatized them in the past. There are commonly seven steps of trauma bonding: 1. Love Bombing (an overexertion of affection and care, only to drastically withdraw after time) 2. Trust and dependency on the abuser 3. Criticism (the abuser verbally assaults the victim in order to lower self esteem; as well as making the victim believe they are nothing without the person) 4. Gaslighting (Using lies and deception to make the victim question whether or not their perception is real or valid) 5. Addiction (the victim forms a physical and emotional dependency on the abuser, making it harder to leave them) 6. Loss of self; 7. Resignation and submission to the abusive nature of the relationship. Trauma bonds “can also happen between a child and an abusive caregiver or another adult”, which only reinforce trauma and can lead the victim to develop mental health conditions like bipolar disorder or depression (Jennifer Litner 2023). Research indicates that individuals with a history of trauma in adolescence may experience lower relationship satisfaction and stability. Trust issues, fear of vulnerability, and challenges in communication contribute to a higher likelihood of relationship conflicts and dissolution.
Interventions and Resilience
Despite the challenges posed by trauma, some individuals exhibit resilience and can develop adaptive coping mechanisms. Interventions focusing on trauma-informed therapy, support networks, and skill-building can enhance resilience and promote healthier relationship outcomes for trauma survivors. Support groups are “crucial in healing from trauma-” and can provide a support system that the victim can use anytime he/she is under duress (Zurbriggen 2012). This is a form of therapy for an individual, along with specialized therapists that deal with trauma. These include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), these options use science to analyze how best to approach a trauma patient. Trauma victims in potentially abusive relationships can partake in Marital therapy. This creates a safe space for the couple, and allows a relationship to grow and potentially heal the individual(s) from trauma inflicted in prior relationships. Relationship therapists use experimental techniques involving three stages; “stabilization, building of self, and integration” to optimize the effectiveness of treatment (Susan M. Johnson, 1998). This ultimately aims to help the individual to process traumatic experiences and build safe relationships with others in the future.
Method
The goal of this study is to find the discrepancies in adult relationships between those who have experienced trauma, and those that haven’t. My research was conducted using a survey study method that relied on participants to answer an open-ended survey asking them to identify prior trauma and the effects it has had on them in adulthood. This could potentially lead to biased answers as the participants may want to hold certain information to protect themselves or to adhere to social acceptance. I chose this method in order to draw out the participants’ most impactful memories and create separate categories for each form of trauma experienced by the individual through their response to the survey.
I began this process by consulting a specialist in psychological behavior to formulate the most appropriate and concise questions for my research. We formulated seven questions that best pertained to the data I was looking for (Appendix 1). At first, I posted the survey link to Reddit and Facebook forums pertaining to trauma and research studies because I thought this would be the most effective way to get a variety of participants. These forums often have hundreds or thousands of members, so I was optimistic about obtaining many responses. However, the link was consistently taken down for a “violation of community guidelines”. I then decided to post my survey on several apps such as “Survey Monkey” in hopes people would be willing to fill it out for free. When this didn’t prove successful I went to various AA meetings, announced my study, and requested that if anyone was interested, they would give me their email address so I could forward both the consent forms and survey to them. I explained to the potential participants that both their emails and identities would remain anonymous. This was ensured by choosing an option in the survey settings to not record emails and, therefore identities. This was necessary to ensure privacy and eliminate potential bias as responses could not be associated with the individual. I also informed potential participants that the Google form was kept electronically under a password-protected laptop. It was necessary to take preventative measures to ensure the research was conducted ethically and within Institutional Review Board guidelines, as well as to lower the chances of bias to fit in societal norms. Anyone who agreed to answer the survey was provided a necessary consent form that they must fill out. This was administered by use of email; once sent I deleted their email to ensure anonymity. I chose this group of people because substance abuse disorder is often a ramification of trauma. Various studies such as H.A. Skinner’s study in which he studied sixty-eight alcoholics and sixty-eight social drinkers, concluded that “7 out of 10 subjects with drinking problems” were traumatized as a child (H.A. Skinner, 1984). I concluded that individuals in AA may have a correlation to my research. I also talked to two trauma and substance abuse specialists at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and requested they forward my survey to any (past) patients willing to fill out the survey. I did this because the psychologists I talked to specialized in trauma patients and, therefore may have potential participants who have experiences about my research. Before accessing the survey, participants were directed to a link where they were asked to fill out the necessary consent and assent form. They were informed of the same privacy measures as stated above.
I also contacted Ciarra Robinson, an addiction specialist at MUSC, and inquired if she knew of any therapists who would be willing to share their objective observations of the effect trauma in adolescence has on an individual’s ability to maintain relationships in adulthood. I did this to obtain objective data from people who have worked in this particular field, formulating their observations throughout their professional lives and across a variety of patients with their own experiences. I formulated five specific questions that pertained to my research: 1. What different types of trauma have you observed (such as sexual, emotional, etc); how are the long-term effects different between them; how are they similar? 2. Do you believe there is any correlation between the age at which the trauma occurred and the severity of the effect(s) it has on the individual? 3. Do you believe women respond to trauma differently than men; are there any types of trauma that are more common in one or the other? 4. Do you believe that trauma, and its severity, are entirely subjective to the individual? 5. What do you believe is the best method to resolve the effect(s) of trauma in the individual; does it vary for each individual? Dr. Robinson helped me with this by getting confirmation from co-workers and her team of specialists willing to talk to me, and using an email I created to send out both my contact information and a link to the survey; The final number of responses came out to be twenty-four.
Measuring Data
To collect data for my intended case study, a series of questions about the individual’s unique experience with trauma in adolescence. With the help of a professional psychologist, I came up with five qualitative questions in open-ended questions to allow the participants to convey as much or as little information as they felt comfortable with, along with three quantitative questions necessary to proceed with the form.
The three quantitative questions were separated from the remaining qualitative questions as they appear in Figure 1 so I could conveniently collect statistics on the average age at which trauma, if any, was experienced. I used the quantitative data to better understand the correlation with the age the trauma occurred and the severity of the effects later in the individual’s life.
| Questions | Format/ Reasoning |
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Background Information:
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Question 1 was asked to ensure the individual’s consent to partake in the survey. Despite signing the necessary consent form prior, I wanted to further ensure willing participation. Questions 2 and 3 were asked in order to measure how many participants experienced trauma, and the average age ranges it occurred. |
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Open Ended Questions:
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Question one was asked to specify the specific events that transpired during adolescence that the individual perceived traumatic. Questions two and three were asked in order to gauge the mental effect(s) said traumatic events had on the individual. This was crucial to my analysis because it could potentially reveal the internal reason(s) behind the individual’s relationships. Questions four and five were asked to define the individual’s opinion on the direct correlation between experienced trauma and the effect it has had on their adult relationships/life. |
Figure 1: Survey Questions
Figure 1 (above) in the left columns depicts the questions necessary for my initial research question. The right column depicts a clarification of the reasons for each question and the results hoped to obtain. To come up with the open-ended questions, I discussed them with a therapist specializing in children to ensure my questions were both ethical and necessary. She affirmed to me that the questions presented were concise enough for my particular survey and that it wasn’t too specific or long to overstep my ethical boundaries.
For each response, I went through and deciphered common themes amongst the participants in an attempt to categorize the most prevalent trauma types of the results. Google Forms automatically calculated the percentages for quantitative questions two and three. To calculate the qualitative data, I used the twelve categories mentioned in the introduction and began going through each response to decipher the type(s) of trauma for each. As shown in Appendix 1, I found that the majority of responses experienced between one to four different types of trauma (19); the rest of the participants experienced five to six (3).
Appendix 1 depicts the responses of participants to all the questions in the survey. As stated above, I used the individual’s responses to depict the amount of and specific forms of adolescent trauma. I then associated each response with the age the trauma occurred and broke it down individually as shown in Figure 3. Results revealed that out of the fifty-four experiences, the majority experienced trauma during the ages of 6-10 (32); 1-5 (11); those who did not reveal their age reported the third most experiences (6); Those 11 reported the least amount of instances (5). I simultaneously analyzed the percentages of each trauma type (Figure 3); as well as each type of trauma reported for each individual’s age (Figure 4)
Figure 2: Age Each Trauma Occurred
Figure 3 – Trauma experienced, in percent (%)
| COUNT of Category 1 | Age of First Event | ||||
| Category 1 | > 11 | 1-5 | 6-10 | DNR | Grand Total |
| Bullying | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Child abuse / Neglect | 1 | 1 | |||
| Domestic violence | 4 | 4 | |||
| Emotional trauma | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| Intimate partner violence | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Medical trauma | 1 | 1 | |||
| Physical abuse | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
| Sexual abuse | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| Substance use | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Traumatic grief | 1 | 9 | 1 | 11 | |
| Verbal abuse | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 | |
| Violence in the community | 2 | 2 | |||
| Grand Total | 5 | 11 | 32 | 6 | 54 |
Figure 4 – Trauma, represented by age
Figure 5 shows the correlation between the types of trauma experienced by all the participants (Figure 4) and the age ranges said events transpired (Figure 3). These three figures all represent the first nine columns in Figure 2. Using the results of Figures 2 and 3, along with the last three columns of Appendix 1, I found the correlation between trauma experienced with the effect it has on an individual’s ability to maintain relationships in adulthood.
Discussion
Data from the survey was able to reveal the relationship between trauma experienced in adolescence in relation to how they are able to maintain relationships in adulthood. Participants who divulged their traumatic past all reported that trauma has had a significant impact on their adult life friendships and romantic relationships.
The most adverse mental health effects I found across all trauma types were depression, anxiety, trust, and PTSD. This reveals that such consequences appear on a large scale and do not discriminate for any individual, however, it is difficult to determine whether the effects (such as depression and anxiety) are nature or nurture-related.
The individuals who reported experiencing trauma at a younger age were found to have dealt with a greater variety of trauma than those who underwent trauma when they were older. These results support Dr. Rachel’s analysis that exposure to traumatic events is at a “higher risk of experiencing a multitude of traumatic events’ compared to those who did not (Siciliano, Rachel Elizabeth, 2024). The reason for this can be attributed to the rapid development of the brain during the ages of five to ten. This leads to the child’s brain being hindered from developing a “sense of self, brain function, ability to make attachments, and emotion-regulation strategies” (Newport Institute, 2023), making the individual struggle with processing other challenges, consequently being detrimental to the continued development of the child.
Effect of Abuse as it Correlates to Relationships
Sexual abuse and traumatic grief were reported by a total of 40.8% of participants. I defined traumatic grief as the loss of a close relationship(s) of an individual, finding that more than half of such reports only experienced that event and nothing else. Despite this being the case, this category of trauma had similar effects to other such categories but contradicted the above paragraph that stated those with traumatic events occurring at a younger age were more liable to have other trauma. I attributed this to the fact that said trauma often had little to do with the individual’s home life and, therefore, often grew up in a more “stable” home environment than those who reported the variety of abuses and violence in the community. Sexual abuse was found to be most prominent within the individual’s close relationships, supporting other statistics from research that “90% of abusers are people children know, love and trust”, which I attribute to the leading cause the majority of participants who reported such experiences note low self-esteem, trust issues, and inability to get close to others (Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse and Suicide, undated).
Individuals who reported abuse (child; emotional; medical; physical/domestic; verbal) often described an experience of getting into relationships that mirrored abusive relationships during childhood. Multiple responses explained the reason behind this being the fact that they inadvertently attract people with abusive qualities due to their lack of self-esteem (many explained a feeling of being undeserving of healthy relationships). This creates a cycle of trauma that the victim normalizes in their head, which results in them being less likely to seek help because they believe it unnecessary. Those who grew up in a chaotic or abusive environment can perceive such relationships as normal, impacting what they seek in future relationships, ignoring healthy relationships for “unhealthy relationships [creating] a feeling of safety” (Dr. Roberts, undated). This forms a traumatic bond (Literature Review) that the victim seeks out constantly. This is further confirmed by my data reporting that the majority of respondents found themselves in manipulative and abusive relationships into adulthood.
Trauma and Drug Use
Several participants explained becoming desensitized to any similar trauma that may occur later in life. This was explained by Dr. Rachel who described the term as hyporesponsive; or “the trauma victim becomes desensitized to similar events as experienced prior” in the individual’s life (Siciliano, Rachel Elizabeth, 2024). This response is often a subconscious defense mechanism to protect the victim from being as severely affected by oftentimes chronic trauma events. She also mentions the term hyperresponsivity; or the state of the individual suffering from constant tension due to fear of being hurt again. Many participants admitted prior substance abuse in order to numb such feelings of unsafety and fear, agreeing with other studies that claim substance use is prominent in trauma victims. This aligns with Dr. Blakley’s conclusion that those with hyporesponsivity often have “high pain tolerance, a desire to touch everything, and an inability to sit still for long periods of time”, making the euphoric and intense effects of substances ideal to those who often aren’t content with the numb feeling they may experience while sober; ironically numbing these feelings with substances ( Blakley, 2023). This could also be assumed the reason those with hyperresponsivity use drugs to calm their nerves with ‘downers’ (benzodiazepines and opiates), making the feeling of tension less severe. Although my results on this matter are limited to mostly individuals in Alcoholics Anonymous, making my data entirely reliable to decipher the number of individuals who turn to substance use to cope, many individuals reported that their substance abuse was a reason they struggled with relationships in early adulthood. Some participants reported how the use of drugs in childhood stunted their emotional maturity and their ability to cope, others explained this usage contributed to seeking out romantic relationships that encouraged or enabled drugs further; two participants even reported such relationships used them to sell drugs.
Potential Treatment
I have found several ways for the traumatized individual to seek help. Dr. Rachel explains the most popular two are eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EDMR) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT). These forms of treatment were not described by the participants, as they mostly claimed their main form of treatment as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). As a result, I had to use Dr. Rachel’s description of them, along with other studies. With this being said, AA seems to be a very viable source of treatment. The idea of AA revolves around the perception of those suffering from substance abuse participating in “meetings” where a group speaker (switching weekly) presents a topic of discussion, either about the twelve steps or a general experience/feeling members may relate to. The participants spent around an hour talking about their experiences and explaining how they got sober. AA also encourages newcomers to find someone in the rooms who has adequate experience and ask them to be their sponsor and take them through the twelve steps of recovery (Appendix 2). Many participants in my survey explain this as the primary way they were able to get sober and begin working on unresolved trauma with a clear head.
The purpose of EDMR therapy is to treat distress associated with traumatic memories. Therapists specializing in such therapy utilize the first one or two sessions to learn about the patient’s history of trauma; sometimes having detailed responses, but often vague ones. After this, the therapist begins the preparation phase (between one and four sessions), to teach clients ways in which to help them deal with cognitive disturbances caused by trauma, they also attempt to build trust with the patient during this time. Specialists then use the Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) (appendix 3) scale to determine how patients perceive themselves and prior trauma. Therapists bring up traumatic experiences to their patients and observe their body language and eye movement, then specialists attempt to help patients replace hurtful thoughts associated with the incident with positive ones. LifeStance Health describes that individuals with PTSD benefit from EMDR treatment and often see a full resolution of symptoms; they mention another analysis that reveals “patients see results faster than if they undergo trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, but explaining it may vary between patient to patient (LifeStance Health Cognitive processing therapy is used to treat PTSD commonly associated with child abuse, combat, and rape. CPT normally consists of twelve sessions where a specialized therapist tries to help the patient process traumatic events so they can develop a “new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event so that it reduces its ongoing negative effects on current life” through having the patient write down their worst traumatic experiences (Patricia A. Resick, Candice M. Monson, and Kathleen M. Chard, 2016). The therapist helps the patient question their unhelpful thoughts about trauma to modify any unhelpful thinking. The specialist helps the patient develop strategies they can use outside of treatment to improve functioning in life. CPT usually focuses on safety, trust, power, control, esteem and intimacy. I believe this type of therapy would benefit the participants in my survey the most due to the results consistently pertaining to the issues above. While there is no definitive therapy that is the best, this one in particular appears to be the most effective in teaching trauma survivors ways in which they can cope with trauma experienced in adolescence, and continue to grow and develop healthy relationships into adulthood.
Conclusion
My research indicated there was a correlation between experiencing trauma in adolescence with their ability to maintain relationships in adulthood as well as adverse mental health effects. My hypothesis was correct in the severity of the effect. However, I underestimated the number of trauma patients who later developed substance abuse disorders, but I attribute this to the fact most of my participants were those in Alcoholics Anonymous. Regardless, even those who were not participants in the program admitted to dealing with substance issues, but not all. There was an overwhelming amount of individuals who developed depression and anxiety. It is difficult to identify whether or not such illness was predisposed or a direct effect of trauma; however, I infer that if predisposed, these were made more prevalent after traumatic experiences. It was also very common for the respondents to report suffering from PTSD and self-preservation/trust issues; which I primarily attribute to being a trauma victim. The reason being that such coping mechanisms are instilled in an individual’s brain to protect themselves from experiencing similar events and feeling a similar sense of vulnerability.
Limitations
Obtaining willing participants for my research was found to be extremely difficult and as such I had to mostly rely on individuals in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to take my survey. This is a potential limitation to my results because many of my responses describe their independent traumas leading to substance abuse, and attribute many of their problems in relationships to such. I understand that this is not the case for all trauma survivors, but have found through other research that it is not uncommon. This limitation may have affected my results by creating a bias through the participant’s method of healing (AA).
Future Direction
My study was limited to the specific types of participants I was able to obtain. To alleviate this, I recommend further researchers talk with a variety of organizations and hospitals, such as the Trauma and Victim Centers, in an attempt to gather willing participants who have been diagnosed as having experienced trauma. I believe that having people in AA and other organizations similar remains crucial in understanding the effects trauma has on an individual’s ability to maintain relationships into adulthood. Utilizing a variety of sources will allow the research to potentially be more conclusive and accurate to anybody dealing with trauma. It will also provide different methods of treatment apart from groups.
Appendix 1
Responses and Data
Appendix 2
Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
Appendix 3
Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) Test
Bibliography
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Behavioral Health Florida. “Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EDMR) | PTSD.” Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EDMR): PTSD, 2019. https://www.
“Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).” American Psychological Association, 2017. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-
Douglas, Greg. “Who’s Running Your Relationship?” Douglas Counseling, December 13, 2019. https://www.douglascounseling.
Harris, Nadine Burke. “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health across a Lifetime.” Nadine Burke Harris: How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime | TED Talk, 2015. https://www.ted.com/talks/
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