ABSTRACT
Exposure to psychological maltreatment in childhood may place individuals at heightened risk for poorer mental well-being in young adults. However, research examining how this link unfolds over time is relatively scarce. This study examined the longitudinal associations among childhood psychological maltreatment, psychological resilience and mental well-being in Turkish young adults. A two-wave panel design with an approximately 6-month interval was used. Participants were 396 young adults in Türkiye (83.3% female) aged 18–29 years (M = 21.15, SD = 1.76). Participants completed self-report measures assessing childhood psychological maltreatment, psychological resilience and mental well-being. Cross-lagged panel analysis was conducted to test the hypothesised longitudinal mediation model while controlling for autoregressive effects. The results indicated that childhood psychological maltreatment at Time 1 significantly predicted lower psychological resilience at Time 2. In turn, psychological resilience at Time 1 significantly predicted higher mental well-being at Time 2. Model fit indices suggested an acceptable fit, and the results supported a partial longitudinal mediation effect of psychological resilience in the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and mental well-being. Overall, the findings suggest that childhood psychological maltreatment may undermine young adults’ mental well-being both directly and indirectly by weakening resilience over time. Interventions that incorporate resilience-building strategies may be particularly beneficial for promoting mental well-being among individuals with histories of childhood psychological maltreatment.