Posttrauma Numbing of Fear, Detachment, and Arousal Predict Delinquent Behaviors in Early Adolescence

Abstract

This study elaborated on associations between youth's trauma-related emotional numbing across multiple affective domains (e.g., fear, sadness, happiness, anger) and delinquent behaviors. The study also examined whether the effects of posttrauma emotional numbing varied by the occurrence of posttrauma arousal symptoms. Participants were 123 middle school boys and girls from working-class, urban communities. Emotional numbing, particularly diminished fear, was related to both home and community violence exposure. Numbing of fearful emotions was associated with all types of delinquent behaviors examined. In addition, numbing of sadness was associated with aggression. Interactions between numbing of fear and hyperarousal suggested a complex pattern of emotional processing following exposure to traumatic events in which numbing related to delinquent behavior only in the context of high posttrauma arousal. These patterns may coalesce to place youth at risk for early involvement in delinquent behaviors.

A daily process examination of the relationship between childhood trauma and stress-reactivity

“…Although this pattern was not specifically predicted and needs to be replicated, we offer some possible explanations for early neglect leading to blunted anxiety-related stress reactivity. First, in line with findings that neglect is associated with behavioral/emotional avoidance and the internalization of NA (e.g., Allwood et al, 2011;Manly et al, 2001;O'Mahen et al, 2015), early experiences of neglect may promote numbing and decreased emotional responsiveness. Second, it is unclear as to what aspects of neglect remain after parsing out the effects of emotional abuse; specifically, it could be that the adverse effects of neglect that were shared with emotional abuse were removed and what remained was actually protective.…”

Avoidance Symptom Presentation of Preschoolers Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence in a Group Therapy Setting

“…In the current edition, avoidance now only includes efforts to avoid memories and reminders of the traumatic event, while the separate symptom category of negative cognitions and mood includes an inability to remember parts of the trauma, diminished interest/participation in activities, and feelings of detachment from others (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This interesting shift highlights the independent importance of both avoidance symptoms and emotional numbing; the latter of which has been associated with delinquency and aggression (Allwood, Bell, & Horan, 2011). DSM-5 has also included more developmentally appropriate criteria for children; for example, a reduction in the avoidance symptom criteria from three to one for preschool children (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).…”

Anxiety and Callous-Unemotional Traits: Physiological and Behavioral Responses to Others' Distress

“…As a result, it was not possible to examine how traumarelated findings may vary across various forms of traumatic exposure. Given previous investigations indicating more extensive trauma histories among CU youth with anxiety in comparison to their non-anxious counterparts (e.g., Humayun et al, 2015;, and research suggesting that emotional numbing symptoms link violence exposure and delinquency (Allwood et al, 2011), it is possible that specific forms of traumatic exposure (e.g., violence exposure) are more strongly associated with aggression and aspects of emotional processing among youth with CU traits than other forms of traumatic exposure (e.g., exposure to a natural disaster). Future studies would do well to collect information on youths' exposure to specific forms of trauma.…”

“…Trauma is central to theory underlying origins of primary and secondary variants in psychopathy (e.g., Porter, 1996), and may be a particularly relevant factor in the affective and behavioral characteristics of children with CU and anxiety, considering research suggesting that traumatic stress-related emotional numbing symptoms link violence exposure and delinquency (Allwood, Bell, & Horan, 2011), and often co-occur with hypervigilance/hyperarousal symptoms (Weems, Saltzman, Reiss, & Carrion, 2003).…”

“…Hypotheses: Given research documenting more extensive trauma histories among children with CU and anxiety than their CU-only counterparts (e.g., Euler et al, 2015), along with literature indicating potential overlap between callousness and posttraumatic emotional numbing symptoms (Allwood et al, 2011), it was hypothesized that among trauma-exposed youth, traumatic stress symptom severity will moderate the impact of CU severity on behaviorally observed aggression (regardless of distress cue salience), such that higher levels of traumatic stress would be associated with a stronger link between CU and observed aggression.…”