The structure of Benevolent Childhood Experiences: A latent class analysis and association with mental health outcomes and psychological factors in a large adult UK sample

Andrea  Zagaria; Philip Hyland; Thanos Karatzias; M Shevlin

doi:10.1007/s42844-025-00167-2

The structure of Benevolent Childhood Experiences: A latent class analysis and association with mental health outcomes and psychological factors in a large adult UK sample

Andrea Zagaria
, Philip Hyland
, Thanos Karatzias
, M Shevlin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The aims of this study were firstly to explore the relationship between Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) and demographic variables, secondly to investigate the taxonic structure of BCEs without considering the confounding effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), thirdly to explore associations between latent classes of BCEs and a range of mental health and psychological factors and fourthly to examine the linear vs. non-linear relationship between BCEs and mental health outcomes. The sample analyzed here consisted of n = 2058 UK general population participants. Our findings revealed weak effects of gender, age, and education across the BCEs. A Latent Class Analysis (LCA) revealed four classes: High BCEs (42%), Intermediate BCEs with opportunity (35%), Intermediate BCEs (17%), and Low BCEs (4%). These classes were associated with psychological factors and mental health outcomes, with higher BCE clusters exhibiting better psychosocial functioning overall. Analysis of quadratic terms yielded no significant results. Implications for further research in this area are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	123-137
Number of pages	15
Journal	Adversity and Resilience Science
Volume	6
Issue number	2
Early online date	28 Mar 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-025-00167-2
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 30 Jun 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.

Data Availability Statement

Data can be publicly accessed via Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/v2zur/.

Funding

Open access funding provided by Universit\u00E0 degli Studi di Trento within the CRUI-CARE Agreement. The initial waves of this project were supported by start-up funds from the University of Sheffield (Department of Psychology, the Sheffield Methods Institute and the Higher Education Innovation Fund via an Impact Acceleration grant administered by the university) and by the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University. The research was subsequently supported by the ESRC under grant number ES/V004379/1. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Funders	Funder number
University of Sheffield
Economic and Social Research Council	ES/V004379/1
Economic and Social Research Council

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Benevolent childhood experiences
Positive childhood experiences
Childhood adversity
Resilience

Access to Document

10.1007/s42844-025-00167-2

s42844-025-00167-2Final published version, 1.09 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The structure of Benevolent Childhood Experiences: A latent class analysis and association with mental health outcomes and psychological factors in a large adult UK sample",

abstract = "The aims of this study were firstly to explore the relationship between Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) and demographic variables, secondly to investigate the taxonic structure of BCEs without considering the confounding effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), thirdly to explore associations between latent classes of BCEs and a range of mental health and psychological factors and fourthly to examine the linear vs. non-linear relationship between BCEs and mental health outcomes. The sample analyzed here consisted of n = 2058 UK general population participants. Our findings revealed weak effects of gender, age, and education across the BCEs. A Latent Class Analysis (LCA) revealed four classes: High BCEs (42\%), Intermediate BCEs with opportunity (35\%), Intermediate BCEs (17\%), and Low BCEs (4\%). These classes were associated with psychological factors and mental health outcomes, with higher BCE clusters exhibiting better psychosocial functioning overall. Analysis of quadratic terms yielded no significant results. Implications for further research in this area are discussed.",

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doi = "10.1007/s42844-025-00167-2",

language = "English",

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The structure of Benevolent Childhood Experiences: A latent class analysis and association with mental health outcomes and psychological factors in a large adult UK sample. / Zagaria, Andrea ; Hyland, Philip; Karatzias, Thanos et al.
In: Adversity and Resilience Science , Vol. 6, No. 2, 30.06.2025, p. 123-137.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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AU - Hyland, Philip

AU - Karatzias, Thanos

AU - Shevlin, M

PY - 2025/6/30

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N2 - The aims of this study were firstly to explore the relationship between Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) and demographic variables, secondly to investigate the taxonic structure of BCEs without considering the confounding effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), thirdly to explore associations between latent classes of BCEs and a range of mental health and psychological factors and fourthly to examine the linear vs. non-linear relationship between BCEs and mental health outcomes. The sample analyzed here consisted of n = 2058 UK general population participants. Our findings revealed weak effects of gender, age, and education across the BCEs. A Latent Class Analysis (LCA) revealed four classes: High BCEs (42%), Intermediate BCEs with opportunity (35%), Intermediate BCEs (17%), and Low BCEs (4%). These classes were associated with psychological factors and mental health outcomes, with higher BCE clusters exhibiting better psychosocial functioning overall. Analysis of quadratic terms yielded no significant results. Implications for further research in this area are discussed.

AB - The aims of this study were firstly to explore the relationship between Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) and demographic variables, secondly to investigate the taxonic structure of BCEs without considering the confounding effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), thirdly to explore associations between latent classes of BCEs and a range of mental health and psychological factors and fourthly to examine the linear vs. non-linear relationship between BCEs and mental health outcomes. The sample analyzed here consisted of n = 2058 UK general population participants. Our findings revealed weak effects of gender, age, and education across the BCEs. A Latent Class Analysis (LCA) revealed four classes: High BCEs (42%), Intermediate BCEs with opportunity (35%), Intermediate BCEs (17%), and Low BCEs (4%). These classes were associated with psychological factors and mental health outcomes, with higher BCE clusters exhibiting better psychosocial functioning overall. Analysis of quadratic terms yielded no significant results. Implications for further research in this area are discussed.

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The structure of Benevolent Childhood Experiences: A latent class analysis and association with mental health outcomes and psychological factors in a large adult UK sample

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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