Developmental timing of trauma exposure and emotion dysregulation in adulthood: Are there sensitive periods when trauma is most harmful?

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Erin C. Dunn, Massachusetts General Hospital; Kristen Nishimi, Massachusetts General Hospital; Stephanie H. Gomez, Massachusetts General Hospital; Abigail Lott, Emory University; Bekh Bradley-Davino, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-02-01
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.10.045
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Affective Disorders
• ISSN: 0165-0327
• Volume: 227
• Start Page: 869
• End Page: 877
• Grant/Funding Information: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health within the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers K01 MH102403 (Dunn) and F32 MH102890 (Powers) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development under Award Number R01 HD071982 (Bradley).
• Keywords: Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Psychiatry; Sensitive periods; ASSOCIATION; CHILD MALTREATMENT; Emotion regulation; PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES; ABUSE; DEPRESSION; MENTAL-HEALTH; POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER; LOW-INCOME; Science & Technology; Child maltreatment; Emotion dysregulation; Trauma; REGULATION DIFFICULTIES; Neurosciences & Neurology; NATIONAL SAMPLE; Clinical Neurology
• Research Categories: Psychology, Clinical; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Background This study aimed to determine whether there were sensitive periods when a first exposure to trauma was most associated with emotion dysregulation symptoms in adulthood. Methods Adult participants came from a public urban hospital in Atlanta, GA (n = 1944). Lifetime trauma exposure was assessed using the Traumatic Events Inventory (TEI). Multiple linear regression models were used to assess the association between the developmental timing of first trauma exposure, classified as early childhood (ages 0–5), middle childhood (ages 6–10), adolescence (ages 11–18), and adulthood (ages 19+), on adult emotion dysregulation symptoms, measured using the abbreviated Emotion Dysregulation Scale. Results Participants exposed to trauma at any age had higher emotion dysregulation scores than their unexposed peers. However, participants first exposed to child maltreatment or interpersonal violence during middle childhood had higher emotion dysregulation scores relative to those first exposed during other developmental stages; these developmental timing differences were detected even after controlling for sociodemographic factors, exposure to other trauma, and frequency of exposure to trauma. Further, after controlling for current psychiatric symptoms, the effect of other interpersonal trauma exposure in middle childhood was diminished and first exposure to other interpersonal violence in early childhood was associated with significantly lower emotion dysregulation symptoms. Limitations Limitations of this study include the use of retrospective reports and absence of complete information about trauma severity or duration. Conclusion These findings should be replicated in other population-based samples with prospective designs to confirm the importance of developmental timing of trauma on later emotion dysregulation.