Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation in the Relationship Between Childhood Adversity and Adult Psychopathology in a Nigerian Urban Sample

Childhood adversity is a well-established risk factor for adult psychopathology, yet the mechanisms through which early adverse experiences translate into psychological disorders in adulthood remain underexplored in Nigerian research contexts. This study examines emotion regulation as a mediator in the pathway from childhood adversity to adult psychopathology in an urban Nigerian sample. A cross-sectional survey with mediation analysis is applied to 350 adults aged 18 to 50 years recruited through community-based stratified sampling in Lagos State. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form measures adversity, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale measures the mediator, and the General Health Questionnaire-28 measures psychopathology. Bootstrap mediation analysis using PROCESS Macro v4 in SPSS is applied. Available clinical psychology literature from South West Nigeria identifies emotional dysregulation as a trans-diagnostic mechanism linking multiple adversity subtypes to anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms. The Emotional Cascade Model and the Developmental Psychopathology Framework by Cicchetti provide the theoretical reference. Findings are expected to confirm significant indirect effects of childhood adversity on psychopathology through emotion regulation deficits, with implications for trauma-informed clinical interventions prioritising emotion regulation skills. This study fills a critical gap in the mediational mechanisms literature from sub-Saharan Africa and contributes to culturally relevant intervention development. Keywords: childhood adversity, emotion regulation, psychopathology, mediation, Lagos State.