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Maltreatment Characteristics and Emotion Regulation (ER) Difficulties as Predictors of Mental Health Symptoms: Results from a Community-Recruited Sample of Female Adolescents

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Abstract

Mental health outcomes vary among maltreated youth, and the factors that impact variance need further investigation. The current study examined how maltreatment characteristics (age at onset, cumulative perpetrators, and cumulative types) and difficulties with emotion regulation (ER) predicted trauma-relevant symptoms among a community-recruited sample of female adolescents with histories of exposure to violence (N = 115; M(SD) age = 15.96 (1.56) years). To predict each trauma-relevant symptom (i.e. anger, anxiety, depression, dissociation, and posttraumatic stress (PTS)), a hierarchical two-step regression was conducted. For Step 1, maltreatment characteristics, taken together, predicted variance in four of five symptoms: anger, anxiety, dissociation, and posttraumatic stress (PTS). Above and beyond variance accounted for by maltreatment characteristics, age at onset predicted variance in anger, anxiety, and PTS symptoms. For Step 2, ER difficulties predicted variance in all symptoms. Findings highlight the need for further research about how maltreatment histories impact subsequent mental health. Results also suggest that ER difficulties should be increasingly considered in models of posttraumatic distress among maltreated youth.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to current and former members of the Traumatic Stress Studies Group at the University of Denver. The National Institute of Justice grant, 2009-MU-MU-0025, awarded to Anne P. DePrince, PhD, supported this research. This research was carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. This project was supported by a PROF Award from the University of Denver and Award No. 2009-MU-MU-0025 from the National Institute of Justice Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice or the National Institute of Justice.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Denver, 2155 S. Race St., Denver, CO, 80208, USA

    Jane M. Sundermann & Anne P. DePrince

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  1. Jane M. Sundermann
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Correspondence to Jane M. Sundermann.

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Sundermann, J.M., DePrince, A.P. Maltreatment Characteristics and Emotion Regulation (ER) Difficulties as Predictors of Mental Health Symptoms: Results from a Community-Recruited Sample of Female Adolescents. J Fam Viol 30, 329–338 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-014-9656-8

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