Early Trauma as a Predictor of Burnout and Social Network Structure in Mission Workers

Abstract

Research has established that adverse experiences in childhood are far-reaching. Attachment persists into adulthood, impacted by internal structures that make sense of relational experience. Dunbar (1993) has estimated that humans maintain approximately 150 personal relationships, structured in concentric rings of decreasing intimacy within the active social network. However, no literature exists examining the relationship among adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), adult attachment dynamics, and social networks. Relational mission workers (N=84) completed a self-report questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that, after controlling for Extraversion, ACEs and Global Anxiety attachment were significant predictors of the size of the innermost social network ring, and ACEs predicted the change in ratio between the innermost social network ring and the social network as a whole. Interpersonal, internal factors, such as attachment style, and experiential, external factors, such as ACEs, can impact the structure and size of an individual's social network.