Childhood trauma among young adults
Experiences from rural Moretele, South Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24252/al-sihah.v18i1.63429Keywords:
Childhood trauma (CT), Young adults, Rural community, South AfricaAbstract
Childhood trauma is increasingly recognised as a major contributor to long-term mental health burden, yet qualitative evidence from rural African communities remains limited, particularly regarding how young adults interpret traumatic experiences and their continuing effects. This study aimed to explore experiences of childhood traumatic events among young adults aged 18–35 years in the rural Moretele health sub-district, North West Province, South Africa. A qualitative study was conducted as part of a broader investigation involving participants who had tested positive for childhood trauma in a preceding quantitative survey. Thirty eligible participants were purposively recruited for the qualitative arm, and in-depth interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached after fourteen interviews. Data were analysed thematically using an inductive approach supported by NVivo 12 software. Five major themes emerged, reflecting diverse forms of childhood trauma experienced within and outside the family environment. Participants described physical and emotional trauma, persistent effects extending into early adulthood, perceived absence of justice, and the use of different coping mechanisms with varying degrees of effectiveness. These findings show that childhood trauma in rural communities is not confined to isolated events but may persist through psychological distress, unresolved injustice, and adaptive or maladaptive coping responses. The study highlights the need for trauma-informed mental health services, accessible psychosocial support, and community-based protection systems for children and young adults in rural South African settings.
Downloads
References
Ahmed, G, K., Metwaly, N, A., Elbeh, K., Galal, M, S., & and Shaaban, I. (2022). Risk factors of school bullying and its relationship with psychiatryc comorbidities; a literature review, The Egyptian Journal of Neurology Psychiatry and Neurosurgery, 58(16); 1-11. https://doi.org/10/1186/s41983-022000449-x
Ajayi, A, I., Mudefi, E., & Owolabi, E, O. (2021). Prevalence and correlates of sexual violence among adolescent girls and young woman; findings from a cross sectional study in South African University, BioMed Central Women’s Health, 21(299); 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01445-8
Alvis, L., Zhang, N., Sandler, I, N., & Kaplow, J, B. (2023). Developmental manifestations of grief in children and adolescents, caregivers as key grief facilitators. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 16(2); 447-457. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-021-00435-0
Armstrong-Carter, E., Osborn, S., Smith, O., Siskowski, C., & Olson, E, A. (2023). Middle and high school students who take care of siblings, parents and grandparents; associations with school engagement, belonging and well-being. AERA Open, 9(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221140337
Ashaba, S., Cooper-Vince, C, E., Maling, S., Satinsky, E, N., Baguma, C., Akena, D., Nansera, D., Bajunirwe, F., & Tsai, A, C. (2021). Childhood trauma, major depressive disorder, suicidality and the modifying role of social support among adolescents living with HIV in rural Uganda. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports,4, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100094
Calhoun, C, D., Stone, K, J., Cabb, A, R., Patterson, M, W., Danielson, C, K., & Bendezu, J, J. (2022). The role of social support in coping with psychological trauma; an integrated biopsychosocial model for post-traumatic stress recovery. Psychiatric Quarterly, 93, 949-970. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11126-022-10003-w
Collins, B.,Downing, J., Head, A., Comerford, T., Nathan, R., & Barr, B. (2023). Investigating the impact of undiagnosed anxiety and depression on health and social care costs and quality of life: cross-sectional study using household health survey data. British Journal of Psychiatry, 9(201), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.596
Cruz, D., Lichten, M., Berg, K., & George, P. (2022). Developmental trauma; conceptual framework, associated risks and comorbidities and evaluation and treatment. Frontiers in Psychiatry,13;800687;1-14. https://doi/10389/fpsyt.2022.800687
Fouche, A., Truter, E., & Fouché, D., F. (2019). Safeguarding children in South African townships against child sexual abuse: The voices of our children. Child abuse review, 28(6), 455-472. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2603
Galvin, M, D., Scheunemann, A., Chiwaye, L., Luvuno, Z., Kim, A, W., & Moolla, A. (2025). Trauma as a mediator of childhood adversity and mental illness in South Africa; A path analysis. South African Journal of Psychiatry, 31(0), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v31i0.2276.
Guo, W., Zhao, Y., Chen, H., Liu, J., Chen, X., Tang, H., Zhou, J., & Wang, X. (2023). The bridge symptoms of childhood trauma. Sleep disorder and depressive symptoms: a network analysis. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 17(88), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-023-00635-6.
Hasan, A., Alsulam, A., Albadrani, B, O., Babear, A, G., Shadad, A, M., Aljohani, M, M.,Almutairi, K, M, H., & Almutairi, B, S.(2025). The psychological effects of bullying behavior on mental health status among adolescents at secondary school. Alexandra Journal of Medicine, 61(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/20905068.2025.2459869
Ihme, H., Olie, E., Courtet, P., El-Hage, W., Zendjidjian, X., Mazzola-Pomietto, P., Consoloni, J, L., Deruelle, C., & Belzeaux, R. (2022). Childhood trauma increases vulnerability to attempt suicide in adulthood through avoidant attachment. Comprehensive Psychiatry,117(152333), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2022.152333
Katsongo-Phiri, T., Grant, K, E., & Brown, M. (2019). Trauma intervention in Sub-Saharan African Children; A systematic literature review. Trauma, Violence and Abuse, 20(4), 453-469. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838017717747
Keely, J., Mancini, V, O., Castell, E., & Breen, L, J. (2023). Factors influencing public perceptions of child neglect; a mixed methods study, Children and Youth Services Review, 155(107154); 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107154
Kigozi, G. (2021). Construct validity and reliability of the generalised anxiety disorder-7 scale in a sample of tuberculosis patients in the Free State Province. South Africa, Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases, 36(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajid. v36i1.298
Lavante, A., Martis, C., Del-Prete, C, M., Martino, P., Pascali, F., Primicer, P., Vergai, M., & Lecciso, F. (2023). Parentification, distress and relationship with parents as factors shaping the relationship between adult siblings and their brother/sister with disabilities. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13.1079608, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1079608
Li, Y., & Chen, H. (2025). Does childhood parental death impact late life health directly and indirectly? evidence from a national survey In China. Death Studies,49(2), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2024.2306471
Liang, Y., Zhou, Y., Ruzek J, I., & Liu, Z. (2020). Patterns of childhood trauma and psychopathology among Chinese rural to urban migrants’ children. Child Abuse and Neglect, 108(10469). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104691
Machisa, M., Jina, R., Labuschagne, G., Vetten, L., Loots, L., & Jewkes, R. (2023). Factors associated with rape case attrition in the South African criminal justice system: A national cross-sectional study. The British Journal of Criminology, 63(3), 588-614. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azac044
Maepa, M, P., & Ntshalintshali, T. (2020). Family structure and history of childhood trauma; associations with risk taking behaviour amongst adolescents in Swaziland. Frontiers in Public Health, 8(563325),1-7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.563325
Mall, S., Platt, J, M., Temmingh, H., Musenge, E., Campbell, M., Susser, E., & Stein, D, J. (2020). The relationship between childhood trauma and schizophrenia in the Genomics of Schizophrenia in the Xhosa people (SAX) study in South Africa, Psychological Medicine, 50(9), 1570-1577. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719001703
Maroufizadeh, S., Omani-Samani, R., Almasi-Hashiani, A., Amini, P., & Sepidarkish M. (2019). The reliability and validity of the Patient Health questionnaiore-9(PHQ-9) and PHQ-2 in patients with infertility. Reported Health, 16(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0802-x
Mphatheni, M. R., Maluleke, W., & Snyman, Z. N. (2021). Understanding the dynamics involved in sexual offences against children in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Gender and behaviour, 19(2), 17875-17882. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-genbeh_v19_n2_a16
Myers, B., Lund, C., Lombard, C., Joska, J., Levitt, N., Butler, C., Cleary, S., Naledi, T., Milligan, P., Stein, D, J., & Sordahl, K. (2018). Comparing dedicated and designated models of integrating mental health into chronic disease care: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial, BioMedicine Central, 19(185); 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-018-2568-9.
Notana, L., & Boboyi, A. (2025). Educators' views on bullying among high school students in the OR Tambo Inland: Implications for social work practice. Interdisciplinary Journal of Education Research, 7(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.38140/ijer-2025.vol7.1.10
Papalia, N., Spivak, B, L., Ashford, L., Guha, A., Luebbers, S., & Ogloff, J, R, P. (2023). Sexual abuse during childhood and all-cause mortality into middle adulthood; an Australian cohort study, Medical Journal of Australia, 219(7); 310-315. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.52089
Rossouw, L., Watt, K., Davidson, L, L., & Desmond, C. (2024). The social determinants of adolescent anxiety and depression in peri-urban South Africa. PLOS Mental Health, 1(6), e0000173. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000173
Scheidell, J, D., Quinn, K., McGorray, S, P., Frueh, B, C., Beharie, N, N., Cottler, L, B., & Khan, M, R. (2018). Childhood traumatic experiences and the association with marijuana and cocaine use in adolescence through adulthood. Addiction, 113(1), 44-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13921
Sharp, H., Chideya, Y., Giuliani, A., Hunt, X., Tomlinson, M., Seedat, S., Creswell, C., Fearon, P., Hammilton-Giachritsis, C., Hiller, R., Meiser-Stedman, R., Du Toit, S., Stewart, J., & Halligan, S, L. (2024). Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following exposure to acute psychological trauma in children aged 8-16 years in South Africa; protocol for the Sinethemba longitudinal study. British Medical Journal, 14,1-9. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085129
Shiba, D., & Mokwena, K. (2024). When bullying victims are also perpetrators: A qualitative study in high schools in Tshwane District, Gauteng Province. Perspectives in Education, 42(1), 71-83. https://doi.org/10.38140/pie.v42i1.7213
Sordahl, K., van der Westhuizen, C., Neuman, M., Weiss, A, H., & Myers, B. (2021). Addressing the mental health needs of young adults in South African communities: a protocol for a feasibility randomised control trial, Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 7(69), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-021-00803-5
Swart, C., M. (2024). Factors in the normative culture and context of previous ‘model-c’schools that leads to the bullying of learners, within a selected Western Cape region (Doctoral dissertation, University of the Western Cape).
Verma, S., & Agrawal, R. (2021). The lasting effects of childhood Trauma, Current Psychiatry, 20,18-28. https://doi.org/10.12788/cp.0101
Wieberneit, M., Thal, S., Clare, J., Notebaert, L., & Tubex, H. (2024). Silences survivors: a systematic reviewof the barriers to reporting, investigating, prosecuting and sentencing of adult female rape and sexual assault. Trauma, Violence & Abuse.00(0), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380241261404
Yao, K., Chen, P., Zhou, H., Ruan, J., Chen, D., Yang, X., & Zhou, Y. (2023). The effect of childhood trauma on suicide risk: the chain mediating effects of resilience and mental distress. BioMed Central Psychiatry, 23(865), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05348-w
Yarar, E, Z., Bulut, B, P., & Demirbas, H. (2023). Does gender really matter; childhood trauma, trait anger and suicide risk in early adulthood. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1(2);.1222-1238. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12371
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Bonolo Mmereki, Kebogile Mokwena, Mathildah Mpata Mokgatle
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted to publish their work online in third parties as it can lead to wider dissemination of the work.
