Abstract
BACKGROUND: The effects of adverse childhood experiences may persist in adult life and manifest themselves in various areas of functioning. The aim of the study was to identify the emotional and experiential factors that determine civilizational diseases and the methods of regulating emotions and functioning in society. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: The surveyed group was composed of 141 adults. The respondents defined the existence of adverse experiences and their attachment styles in retrospective. The methods of regulating emotions were also measured, as well as the presence of civilizational diseases. RESULTS: The authors found a correlation between the style of attachment and the traumatic events experienced during the first 18 years of life and the existence of civilizational diseases. Adverse experiences in childhood and attachment styles proved to be predictors of specific social behaviour aimed at regulating emotions. CONCLUSIONS: The results emphasised the importance of the bond with a parent and of traumatic childhood experiences for the future health condition and for the social and emotional functioning. The study demonstrated that persons who experienced traumatic events in their families or in the peer environment in the first 18 years of their lives reported the presence of civilizational diseases. A correlation was found between peer violence, the threat of being abandoned by a caregiver, and diagnosed civilizational diseases in respondents. The fearful-ambivalent style in the relationship with the father proved to be a predictor of reported civilizational diseases. Adverse childhood experiences are linked to regulating emotions by taking perspective. The attachment style developed in the relationship with parents determined the ways of regulating negative and positive emotions in contact with other people. Persons who developed an avoidant attachment style in the relationships with the mother or the father less frequently seek social support when they experience negative emotions.