Trauma, Care, and Morality: Emotions as the Link Between Childhood Adversity and Moral Foundations

By Christopher G Jones LMFT and Christopher Jones

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are prevalent predictors of poor health outcomes in adulthood, but their impact on moral foundations remains underexplored. Through a quantitative cross-sectional study examining the effects of ACEs on adult morality, a new framework for understanding the relationship between childhood experiences, emotion and personality development, and later moral mindsets is proposed. For the first time, ACEs are linked to differences in moral foundations via affective personality traits and caregiving factors that highlighted the effects of emotion on thought, belief, and behavior. Such research is instructive for clinicians, educators, and policymakers alike, informing existing practices and promoting the future development of enrichment programs that support positive childhood experiences and later moral development. This work spans well beyond a simple research study, however. Follow the history of morality from the prehistoric to the present day through a truly multidisciplinary approach to the psychology of ethics, including the interweaving of cultural anthropology, evolutionary and developmental psychology, affective neuroscience, traumatology, and more.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FMYHNGZ3
• ISBN13: 9798297821712
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"