What is it about?
Childhood trauma is known to increase the risk of mental health problems, but less is known about how it affects long-term mental wellbeing. In this study, we followed 1,668 Australian adults for 12 years to examine how wellbeing changes over time in people with and without adverse childhood experiences. We found that people tended to follow stable patterns of either higher or lower wellbeing over time. Individuals who had experienced childhood trauma were less likely to maintain higher wellbeing, but many still did. Importantly, those who maintained higher wellbeing experienced better long-term outcomes, including lower risk of mental health problems, obesity, sleep and alcohol difficulties, and better social and work functioning. These findings suggest that promoting mental wellbeing may help improve long-term health, even for people who experienced adversity early in life.
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Why is it important?
This study is important because most research on childhood trauma focuses on mental illness risk, rather than the possibility of maintaining positive mental wellbeing. By following people over 12 years, our research shows that many individuals who experienced childhood adversity can still sustain moderate to high levels of wellbeing, and that this is linked to better long-term health and functioning. This strengths-based perspective highlights wellbeing as a potential pathway for resilience, suggesting that promoting wellbeing may help reduce the long-term impacts of early adversity. These findings are particularly timely as mental health research and policy increasingly shift toward prevention and wellbeing promotion, not just treatment of illness.
Perspectives
This publication is particularly meaningful to me because I have led the TWIN-10 study since it began in 2008, following participants for more than 15 years. This paper represents the first major outcome from our 12-year longitudinal work. It is also the first study to demonstrate the long-term health importance of mental wellbeing using the COMPAS-W scale, which I developed to capture both hedonic wellbeing (feeling good) and eudaimonic wellbeing (functioning well and having purpose). These aspects of wellbeing are fundamental to mental health but are often not measured in traditional research. One of the most important messages from this work is that mental illness and mental wellbeing are related but distinct outcomes. Even people who experience adversity or mental health challenges can still develop wellbeing and flourish, and our findings suggest that doing so can have meaningful benefits for long-term health and functioning.
Justine Gatt
University of New South Wales
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The 12-year longitudinal impact of risk and resilience trajectories on adult health following childhood trauma., American Psychologist, March 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/amp0001658.
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