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The Lasting Effects of Early Adversity and Updating Ability on the Tendency to Develop PTSD Symptoms Following Exposure to Trauma in Adulthood

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Abstract

Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) serve as a risk factor for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in those who experience additional adult trauma. However, while some individuals with ACEs develop severe PTSD symptoms following exposure to additional adult trauma, others do not. We propose that updating prior knowledge in the face of new inconsistent information may account for these individual differences. This notion is based on prior work showing that for individuals with a reduced ability to update negative-to-positive outcome associations, greater trauma is correlated with elevated PTSD symptoms. On the other hand, individuals with flexible updating do not develop such symptoms. Objective.

Here, we tested whether reduced updating moderates the relationship between ACEs and PTSD symptoms following additional adult trauma.

Methods

Firefighters (N = 123, Mage = 28.02, SDage = 4.69) were assessed for childhood adversity and PTSD symptoms and completed a performance-based learning paradigm to evaluate reduced updating.

Results

We predicted and found strong associations between ACEs and PTSD symptoms for individuals with reduced updating of negative–but not positive–outcomes.

Conclusions

The results may serve as a first step toward improving mental health outcomes in individuals with ACEs and protecting them from the aversive effect of exposure to additional adult trauma.

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Acknowledgements

SHN is grateful to the Azrieli Foundation for the award of an Azrieli Fellowship. MRS participation in this project was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Funding

This work was supported by the Binational Science Foundation; BSF (Grant #2015_143 to ELG and GAB).

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Author notes

  1. Shilat Haim-Nachum and M. Roxanne Sopp have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Shilat Haim-Nachum, M. Roxanne Sopp & Einat Levy-Gigi

  2. Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

    M. Roxanne Sopp

  3. Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA

    George A. Bonanno

  4. The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Einat Levy-Gigi

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  1. Shilat Haim-Nachum
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  4. Einat Levy-Gigi
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Correspondence to Einat Levy-Gigi.

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Haim-Nachum, Sopp, Bonanno and Levy-Gigi have not disclosed any competing interests.

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Haim-Nachum, S., Sopp, M.R., Bonanno, G.A. et al. The Lasting Effects of Early Adversity and Updating Ability on the Tendency to Develop PTSD Symptoms Following Exposure to Trauma in Adulthood. Cogn Ther Res 46, 1101–1112 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-022-10328-7

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