The relationship between childhood trauma, PTSD symptoms, and perceived leadership competence: have we protected our future leaders?

Leadership is an important competency across different fields and is a key to socio-economic development. Although leadership involves various social-emotional competencies that can be profoundly affected by childhood trauma, it remains unknown about the potential relationship between childhood trauma and leadership. This study examined whether childhood trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms would be negatively associated with leadership competence. A convenience sample of N = 411 Hong Kong adults (Age: M = 38.6, SD = 12.9) completed self-report measures of the studied variables in an online survey. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that childhood betrayal trauma (β = − 0.140, p =.008) but not non-betrayal trauma (β = 0.035, p =.491) was significantly, negatively associated with perceived leadership competence, even after controlling for covariates. When symptoms of complex PTSD were added into the model, disturbances in self-organization (DSO) symptoms were also a significant factor associated with perceived leadership competence (β = − 0.454, p <.001). This study is the first to show that childhood betrayal trauma and its major mental health consequences (i.e., complex PTSD symptoms) are negatively associated with perceived leadership competence. The findings expand our limited understanding of the socio-economic correlates of childhood trauma and point to the social and economic importance of child protection. If we make efforts to prevent childhood trauma, we may possibly protect our future leaders.