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A Longitudinal Examination of Child Maltreatment Dimensions, Emotion Regulation, and Comorbid Psychopathology

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Abstract

Childhood maltreatment is a toxic stressor that occurs in the family context and is related to adverse outcomes including elevations in internalizing symptomology and externalizing symptomology. In the present study, we tested the role of threat and deprivation dimensions of child maltreatment in the etiology of comorbid psychopathology in emerging adulthood. Additionally, we investigated emotion regulation and emotion lability/negativity as mechanisms underlying the relationship between child maltreatment dimensions and emerging adult psychopathology. To address these aims, we used a longitudinal sample of emerging adults (N = 413, Mage = 19.67, 78.0% Black, 51.1% female) who had previously participated in research assessments at age 10–12. Using a person-centered approach with latent profile analysis, we identified three classes of emerging adulthood psychopathology characterized by different levels of symptom severity and comorbidity between internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Emerging adults who experienced deprivation only, compared to those who were not maltreated, were more likely to belong to a comorbid and severe psychopathology class versus the other identified psychopathology classes. There was also a significant indirect pathway from experiences of both threat and deprivation to a high externalizing class via emotion lability/negativity. Our results contribute to current models of childhood adversity and psychopathology and have implications for interventions to prevent psychopathology among emerging adults exposed to child maltreatment.

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Notes

  1. We removed two items from the ERC (one from the emotion regulation subscale, “is a cheerful child”, and one from the lability/negativity subscale, “is easily frustrated”) due to overlap with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. The emotion regulation and lability/negativity scales retained good reliability (= 0.75 and = 0.84, respectively). Results remained the same after this modification. Thus, we decided to retain our results using the original measure.

  2. In a sensitivity analysis, we ran the path analysis including the 14 cases that were dropped due to vagueness of the emotional maltreatment they experienced. The significance of parameters and the overall interpretation of results did not change.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Jacobs Foundation (to Dante Cicchetti), National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA01774 to Fred A. Rogosch and Dante Cicchetti), and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (P50-HD096698 to Dante Cicchetti and Sheree Toth) for their support of this work. Erinn Duprey’s work was also supported by the National Institute on Mental Health (T32-MH020061, PI: Conwell).

Funding

This work received financial support from the Jacobs Foundation (to Dante Cicchetti), National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA01774 to Fred A. Rogosch and Dante Cicchetti), and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (P50-HD096698 to Dante Cicchetti and Sheree Toth).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children’s Institute, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Erinn B. Duprey

  2. Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Erinn B. Duprey, Elizabeth D. Handley, Justin Russotti, Jody Todd Manly & Dante Cicchetti

  3. Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Dante Cicchetti

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  1. Erinn B. Duprey
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Correspondence to Erinn B. Duprey.

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Duprey, E.B., Handley, E.D., Russotti, J. et al. A Longitudinal Examination of Child Maltreatment Dimensions, Emotion Regulation, and Comorbid Psychopathology. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 51, 71–85 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-022-00913-5

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