Unpacking the effects of child maltreatment subtypes on emotional competence in emerging adults.

Abstract

Objective: Child maltreatment is often studied as a general category or individually as a subtype, but maltreatment subtypes are rarely studied simultaneously. Despite a breadth of research in the effects of child maltreatment on emotional competence, discrepant findings emerge when child maltreatment subtypes are explored. The present study aims to better understand the differential effects of childhood maltreatment subtypes on facets of emotion regulation and the recognition of specific emotions. Method: A sample of 573 emerging adults (87% female) aged 18-25 was recruited to complete an online survey that asked about child maltreatment history, difficulty with emotion regulation, and involved an emotion recognition task. Results: Path analyses indicated that emotional maltreatment had a global effect on the facets of emotion regulation and the recognition of negatively valanced emotions (anger, fear, and sadness). Neglect predicted difficulties with managing impulsive behavior; sexual abuse predicted difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior. Physical abuse was associated with poorer recognition of fear. Multigroup analysis suggested that patterns did not differ between clinically distressed and nondistressed participants. Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of including a standard set of child maltreatment subtypes in prediction models of emotional competence to avoid the misattribution or overestimation of the effects of child maltreatment subtype on emotional competence. Clinical Impact StatementThis study contributes to an emerging body of research highlighting the importance of controlling for maltreatment subtypes and emphasizing the global impact of emotional maltreatment on emotional competence. Clinical interventions may want to focus on specific emotion regulation and recognition difficulties depending on child maltreatment history.

Childhood trauma and anger in adults with and without depressive and anxiety disorders

“…In that light, our study elaborates on previous research that found distinct effects of subtypes of abuse on emotion regulation difficulties in adulthood 49,50 . The current findings show that emotional neglect predominates in the prediction of both trait anger and borderline personality traits, whereas physical abuse predominates in the prediction of anger attacks and antisocial personality traits.…”

“…48 In that light, our study elaborates on previous research that found distinct effects of subtypes of abuse on emotion regulation difficulties in adulthood. 49,50 The current findings show that emotional neglect predominates in the prediction of both trait anger and borderline personality traits, whereas physical abuse predominates in the prediction of anger attacks and antisocial F I G U R E 3 Heat plot of correlations between childhood trauma (i.e., CTI, Childhood trauma index; CTQ-SF), childhood life events, anger measures (i.e., Trait anger, Anger attacks, PDQ-4 Borderline, PDQ-4 Antisocial), and symptom severity measures (i.e., IDS-SR, BAI, FQ, PSWQ). We used a sum score for the dichotomous variables anger attacks, PDQ-4 Borderline, and PDQ-4 Antisocial using the 5, 9, and 7 items respectively.…”

How are experiences and acceptability of child maltreatment related to resilience and posttraumatic growth: a cross cultural study

“…Higher PTG scores mean that many participants expressed having undergone transformative changes when recovering from the devastation brought on by their traumatic experience (Jankovic et al, 2022 ; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004 ). Additionally, emotional maltreatment, and physical abuse to a lower extent (Cheng & Langevin, 2022 ; Kim et al, 2023 ), have been identified as the most damaging subtypes of CM for emotion regulation, and upon close examination, the BRS items could be construed as indicators of emotion regulation abilities in high stress situations (e.g. ‘It does not take me long to recover from a stressful event’).…”

Identification of probable child maltreatment using prospectively recorded information between 5 months and 17 years in a longitudinal cohort of Canadian children

“…The most common dimension for operationalizing child maltreatment is through the categorization of distinct types (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect) (Jackson et al, 2019). Studies suggest that individual types of maltreatment may contribute specifically or in a shared manner to later outcomes (Cecil et al, 2017;Cheng & Langevin, 2022). For example, a study of emerging adults found that a history of emotional abuse contributed globally to the dimensions of emotional regulation, whereas other types of maltreatment (e.g., neglect) contributed individually to specific facets of emotional regulation (e.g., impulsivity) (Cheng & Langevin, 2022).…”

“…Studies suggest that individual types of maltreatment may contribute specifically or in a shared manner to later outcomes (Cecil et al, 2017;Cheng & Langevin, 2022). For example, a study of emerging adults found that a history of emotional abuse contributed globally to the dimensions of emotional regulation, whereas other types of maltreatment (e.g., neglect) contributed individually to specific facets of emotional regulation (e.g., impulsivity) (Cheng & Langevin, 2022). Additionally, most research on child maltreatment and later outcomes has focused on physical and sexual abuse (Angelakis et al, 2019;Baldwin et al, 2019;Norman et al, 2012).…”