Childhood adversity predicts use of cognitive reappraisal across the lifespan (2024)

Undergraduate: Zhuo Yun Song

Faculty Advisor: Kristen Lindquist
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Childhood maltreatment, or adversity, in the form of physical, emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse and neglect is a prominent public health issue. Childhood maltreatment is associated with a higher risk of developing psychopathologies with emotion dysregulation as a symptom. Using adaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies is a vital part of individuals’ well-being, as we encounter affective experiences everyday that drive many of our cognitive functions. Therefore, it is important to examine the relationship between childhood maltreatment and the use of ER strategies. Cognitive reappraisal, in particular, is a well-studied strategy that is known to be effective. Previous literature suggests that individuals who were exposed to childhood maltreatment are more likely to experience increased negative affect. However, many studies look at maltreatment in relation to ER more broadly, instead of analyzing the use of specific adaptive strategies that may have varying degrees of effectiveness in helping individuals manage their emotions. In the present study, we use a week of experience sampling methods (ESM) to derive a relationship between severity of childhood adversity and daily use of cognitive reappraisal in participants ages 18-80. Using multilevel modeling, we found that greater childhood maltreatment is associated with greater daily cognitive reappraisal use. Our findings suggest the importance of examining specific ER strategies in detail, evaluating the different methods used in ER research, and whether differences in participant samples (eg. specific ages and type of maltreatment experienced) result in differences in daily cognitive reappraisal use.