Positive and negative childhood experiences, along with the ways of processing the emotions associated with them, can play an important role in the formation and persistence of psychological symptoms in adulthood. The aim of the present study was to examine the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and the moderating role of benevolent childhood experiences in the relationship between childhood trauma experience and psychological symptoms among university students. The present study was a descriptive-correlational investigation of the structural equation modeling type. The statistical population consisted of all students of Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah Branch, in the first semester of the 2025–2026 academic year. The sample comprised 424 students (304 female and 120 male) who were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling and completed the research instruments, including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 2003), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006), and the Benevolent Childhood Experiences Scale (Narayan et al., 2018). Data analysis was performed using SPSS-24 and AMOS-24 statistical software. The results of the Sobel test indicated confirmation of the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between childhood trauma experience and psychological symptoms. However, the results of partial correlation and the interaction effect in examining the moderating role of benevolent childhood experiences were not significant (P>0.05). Accordingly, it is suggested that mental health professionals, in designing educational and preventive interventions to address psychological symptoms, while considering the lasting and multidimensional effects of childhood trauma, pay special attention to strategies such as strengthening benevolent experiences and employing adaptive emotion regulation strategies.