Childhood Physical and Emotional Trauma and Personality Profiles among Students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi

Abstract

Childhood trauma is increasingly recognized as an important developmental experience with potential implications for personality functioning beyond childhood. This study examined the association between childhood physical and emotional trauma and personality profiles among students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. The study involved 395 undergraduate students selected through stratified and simple random sampling from an estimated university population of 35,000 students. Data were collected using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) and the 30-item Big Five Inventory-2 Short Form (BFI-2-S). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses of variance at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that childhood physical trauma had a significant multivariate association with the combined personality dimensions, Wilks' Λ = .079, F(105, 1808.94) = 11.75, p < .001, partial η² = .399. Physical trauma was significantly associated with extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness, with the strongest effect observed for openness. Childhood emotional trauma also demonstrated a significant multivariate association with the combined personality dimensions, Wilks' Λ = .032, F(70, 1794.21) = 27.05, p < .001, partial η² = .496. Emotional trauma was significantly associated with extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness, but not agreeableness, with neuroticism showing the strongest association. When physical and emotional trauma were examined jointly, both demonstrated significant multivariate effects on personality profiles, with emotional trauma showing a particularly strong association with neuroticism. The study concludes that childhood physical and emotional trauma are significantly associated with personality profiles among students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi. The findings underscore the importance of trauma-informed counselling, psychological screening, resilience-building interventions, and psychosocial support within university settings. Future research should examine protective factors and use longitudinal designs to clarify the temporal relationship between childhood trauma and personality development.