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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1467780
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Identity and Resilience in Marginalized ChildhoodsView all articles
The Relationship between Chinese Vocational College Students' Adverse Childhood Experience and Meaning in Life: The Mediating Role of Self-esteem and the Moderating Role of Humorous Coping
Provisionally accepted- 1Mental Health Education and Counseling Center, Chongqing Chemical Industry Vocational College, Chongqing, China
- 2Laboratory of Emotion and Mental Health, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, Chongqing, China
- 3School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
- 4Postdoctoral Workstation of Art Theory, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
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This study examined the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and meaning in life among Chinese vocational college students, along with the mediating role of self-esteem and the moderating role of humorous coping. A total of 451 students were assessed utilizing the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale (ACES), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Coping Humor Scale (CHS). Results indicated that: (1) adverse childhood experiences significantly and negatively predicted meaning in life; (2) self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and meaning in life; (3) humorous coping moderated the first stage of the mediation model, specifically buffering the negative effect of adverse childhood experiences on self-esteem. In summary, adverse childhood experiences reduce meaning in life by impairing self-esteem, whereas enhancing humorous coping abilities can buffer their detrimental effects on self-esteem among college students.
Keywords: adverse childhood experience1, the meaning in life2, self-esteem3, Humorous coping4, Vocational college students5
Received: 20 Jul 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yun, Cai and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuanyan Hu, Laboratory of Emotion and Mental Health, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, 402160, Chongqing, China
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