Adverse Childhood Experiences, Forgiveness, Rumination, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Social Anxiety in Emerging Adults: A Multi-Mediation Analysis

Despite growing empirical evidence of the devastating impact of adverse experiences on adult mental health, little is known about the underlying mechanisms that statistically explain the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and social anxiety. A critical step is to examine these mediational pathways to develop effective prevention and intervention strategies aimed at reducing social anxiety symptoms among emerging adults with histories of ACEs. The present study investigated a serial multiple mediation model examining the association between ACEs and social anxiety via forgiveness, rumination, and intolerance of uncertainty. The sample consisted of 515 emerging adults (70.9% female), aged between 18 and 25 years ( M = 21.59, SD = 1.81). The findings indicated that forgiveness significantly mediated the relationship between ACEs and both rumination and intolerance of uncertainty, which in turn significantly mediated the relationship between ACEs and social anxiety. Moreover, serial indirect effects were observed through the sequential pathway from ACEs to forgiveness, then to rumination and intolerance of uncertainty, and finally to social anxiety. These findings suggest that interventions targeting increased forgiveness and decreased rumination and intolerance of uncertainty may reduce the psychological burden of ACEs. The results offer novel insights for designing trauma-informed and resilience-focused psychological interventions tailored for emerging adults.