Objectives <p>This study investigated the relationships among childhood trauma, depression, self-compassion, and problematic gaming among adolescents.</p> Methods <p>A sample of 1,749 seventh-grade students (54.1% male, <i>M</i>_age = 12.27 years, <i>SD</i> = 0.47) from a public secondary school in Henan Province, China, participated in the research. Participants completed standardized questionnaires assessing childhood trauma, depression, self-compassion, and pathological online game use.</p> Results <p>Results indicated that childhood trauma was positively associated with increased levels of problematic gaming, with depression mediating a substantial portion of this relationship. Notably, self-compassion emerged as a critical moderating factor, influencing the relationships between childhood trauma and both depression and problematic gaming. Specifically, higher levels of self-compassion were found to mitigate the adverse effects of childhood trauma, weakening its associations with depression and problematic gaming. We identified a conditional mediation effect, revealing that the mediating role of depression in the relationship between childhood trauma and problematic gaming was significant only among adolescents with high levels of self-compassion.</p> Conclusions <p>This novel finding suggests that self-compassion not only buffers against negative outcomes but also alters the underlying psychological mechanisms linking trauma to behavioral problems.</p>