Childhood maltreatment is linked to larger preferred interpersonal distances towards friends and strangers across the globe.

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is thought to be associated with altered responses to social stimuli and interpersonal signals. However, limited evidence exists that CM is linked to larger comfortable interpersonal distance (CID) - the physical distance humans prefer towards others during social interactions. However, no previous study has investigated this association in a comprehensive sample, yielding sufficient statistical power. Moreover, preliminary findings are limited to the European region. Finally, it is unclear how CM affects CID towards different interaction partners, and whether CID is linked to social functioning and attachment. To address these outstanding issues, adults (N = 2986) from diverse cultures and socio-economic strata completed a reaction time task measuring CID towards an approaching stranger and friend. Higher CM was linked to a larger CID towards both friends and strangers. Moreover, insecure attachment and less social support were associated with larger CID. These findings demonstrate for the first time that CM affects CID across countries and cultures, highlighting the robustness of this association.

Rainbow babies: Trauma and parenting after pregnancy loss.

OBJECTIVE: Parents with a history of pregnancy loss may be at greater risk for less secure attachment (Côté-Arsenault et al., 2020) and likely experience parenting differently than those without pregnancy loss. However, existing literature regarding pregnancy loss and parenting has focused nearly exclusively on attachment and has produced inconsistent findings. The present study aims to expand the scope of previously studied parenting indices by examining the role of pregnancy loss in relation to beliefs about parenthood as well as levels of parental support, satisfaction, involvement, and limit-setting. Cumulative trauma was included in the model to assess the role of trauma exposure. METHOD: Two hundred twenty-one parents (Mage = 41.69, SD = 12.73; 72.9% female) with at least one living child were recruited from either Amazon's Mechanical Turk or a midwestern university. RESULTS: Pregnancy loss was associated with lower levels of parental support, but did not evince links with parenting perceptions or other aspects of the parent-child relationship. Mothers reported receiving less support than fathers. Racial minorities endorsed less positive child perceptions and lower levels of parental satisfaction and involvement. Cumulative trauma, surprisingly, was unrelated to all of the parenting indices. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy loss may be related to lower perceptions of parental support, but may not be tied to parenting beliefs or aspects of the parent-child relationship. Future research should further consider context of the loss experience to better unpack how pregnancy loss may be related to specific parenting factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Criterion A and Non-Criterion A Racial Discrimination Experiences, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, and Posttraumatic Cognitions Among Black or African Americans.

Racial discrimination is an unfortunately common experience for Black Americans with detrimental physical and mental health consequences. Prior research has established an association between discrimination and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS); yet, trauma-related cognitions have not been studied. The majority of the existing empirical work in this area has not examined specific forms of discrimination experiences, despite potential key differences in these adversities. Relatedly, some forms of discrimination constitute "traumatic" events as defined by Criterion A for PTSD in the DSM-5 while others do not, and these distinctions have also been overlooked. Thus, the present study aimed to (a) examine discrimination, including specific types, in relation to PTSS and posttraumatic cognitions and (b) investigate whether Criterion A and non-Criterion A discrimination experiences were tied to PTSS and trauma-related thoughts. Participants were 172 undergraduate students who identified as Black or African American (Mage = 25.11, SD = 8.25, range = 18-56; 84.9% female). Results indicated that while cumulative trauma was unrelated to PTSS, discrimination experiences were linked with higher PTSS and negative posttraumatic cognitions. Specifically, avoidance discrimination experiences were associated with both outcomes. Criterion A discrimination events were not tied to PTSS. These findings support previous research showing a link between racial discrimination and trauma-related outcomes. In addition, the results suggest that avoidance discrimination, while not classified as "traumatic," may have an important contribution to PTSS and posttraumatic cognitions among Black individuals. The study underscores the need to address racial discrimination experiences, including microaggressions, within a traumatic stress context.

Children with sexual behavior problems: Ties to child maltreatment, family functioning, and help-seeking.

Although the literature on children's sexual behavior problems (SBPs) has indicated that maltreatment and family dysfunction are linked to SBPs, several facets of these factors have remained unexamined. Prior research has largely focused on SBPs more broadly, though interpersonal SBPs (ISBPs) are likely a distinct, more severe SBP subtype. The aim of the current study was to examine potentially relevant, unexplored factors, including the number of types of and total allegations of maltreatment as well as familial characteristics (i.e., parenting attitudes and behaviors, discipline methods, family functioning, and help-seeking) in relation to SBPs and ISBPs. The present study included 8-year-old children (N = 1,011, 51.1% female, 53.8% Black) and their caregivers from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) study. In the model for SBPs, externalizing symptoms, the number of types of maltreatment allegations, maladaptive discipline methods, and help-seeking were associated with SBPs, whereas child's gender, race/ethnicity, internalizing symptoms, total maltreatment allegations, income, family functioning, and parenting attitudes were unrelated, r2 = .23. When ISBPs were examined, only child's gender and externalizing symptoms were tied to ISBPs, r2 = .09. However, child's race/ethnicity and internalizing symptoms, as well as maltreatment experiences, family factors, and help-seeking, were not associated with ISBPs. These findings highlight the importance of broader externalizing symptoms for both SBPs and ISBPs as well as the role of multiple types of maltreatment, parenting behavior, and help-seeking in the context of general SBPs.

Perceptions of parenthood and child development among parents who experienced child maltreatment.

Maltreatment survivors may be at risk for parenting challenges, although the previous literature is inconsistent, has focused on individual maltreatment forms, and has overlooked posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and other trauma exposure. The current study, thus, aimed to expand this research in four key ways by (a) examining all five maltreatment forms; (b) controlling for other nonmaltreatment trauma exposure to better isolate the role of maltreatment; (c) investigating maltreatment types and PTSS simultaneously; and (d) exploring novel parenting factors, specifically four types of parenting beliefs and developmental knowledge. Trauma-exposed parents (N = 301; Mage = 26.49 years, SD = 8.34, range: 18-69 years; 66.8% female; 59.8% White) participated in the study. A path analytic model indicated that, surprisingly, none of the maltreatment types nor cumulative trauma exposure corresponded with parental beliefs related to one's child, self, partner, or social relationships. PTSS, however, were tied to all four parenting belief types as well as developmental knowledge, ßs = -.05-.40. Physical and emotional abuse were linked to less accurate developmental knowledge, ß = .02, and maladaptive parenting practices, ß = .03. Sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing domestic violence were not associated with any of the parenting factors. Thus, current trauma symptoms are likely a more critical intervention focus than maltreatment experiences, although physical and emotional abuse may also play a role in parenting knowledge and behaviors. These findings also signal the importance of including all five maltreatment forms and PTSS when conducting research on the interaction between trauma and parenting.

An investigation of the associations between trauma exposure, racial stereotypes, and racist beliefs.

OBJECTIVE: Given the concerning rise in hate crimes in recent years, it is critical to better understand factors associated with racist beliefs. As suggested by terror management theory (TMT), trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) may activate existential distress and anxiety, which may strengthen worldviews, including prejudiced beliefs (Greenberg & Kosloff, 2008; Weise et al., 2012). Although PTSS include negative alterations in beliefs about other people and the world, the connection between trauma and racist beliefs has not been investigated. There may also be key differences in terms of types of trauma exposure, such as interpersonal and noninterpersonal trauma, and racial beliefs. METHOD: The present study aimed to determine: (a) whether cumulative trauma exposure and PTSS are associated with endorsement of racist perceptions and stereotypes regarding Black people, and (b) if interpersonal trauma is more strongly tied to prejudiced and stereotyped beliefs than noninterpersonal trauma among 277 White undergraduates (Mage = 23.33, SD = 6.11; 76.4% female). RESULTS: Neither cumulative trauma nor PTSS were found to be related to elevated racist beliefs or positive or negative stereotypes. However, noninterpersonal trauma exposure was associated with stronger endorsement of racist beliefs and negative stereotypes (ηp² = .03, .01). Surprisingly, interpersonal trauma exposure corresponded with lower racist beliefs (ηp² = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Noninterpersonal trauma exposure may thus activate TMT and strengthen prejudiced ideology, whereas interpersonal traumatic experiences and PTSS may not. More research is needed to better understand how types of traumatic events may relate to the development of prejudiced beliefs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cumulative trauma, posttraumatic stress, and obstetric and perinatal outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: Traumatic stress is associated with increased risk for physical health conditions, emotional disorders, and reproductive challenges. Significant rates of posttraumatic stress disorder are reported during pregnancy and after childbirth (Yildiz et al., 2017). However, a dearth of research has explored how traumatic stress impacts obstetric and perinatal outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine whether cumulative trauma and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) were positively associated with adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes (i.e., pregnancy complications, nonviable pregnancies, preterm birth, and low birth weight). Abortion was also explored in relation to trauma exposure. METHOD: Two hundred and twenty-six trauma-exposed women (Mage = 40.54, SD = 13.03) who had been pregnant at least once were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk; 63.3%) or midwestern university (36.7%) to participate in the study. RESULTS: Higher levels of PTSS were related to a greater number of nonviable pregnancies and abortions (ßs = .18-.20) as well as delivering a low birth weight baby (OR = 1.03). Yet, these same associations were not found with cumulative trauma exposure. Conversely, greater cumulative trauma was linked with delivering a baby prematurely (OR = 1.16). Pregnancy complications were unrelated to both PTSS and cumulative trauma. CONCLUSIONS: Cumulative trauma exposure and PTSS may have adverse effects on obstetric and perinatal outcomes and pregnant women with PTSS may be especially vulnerable. Further research is needed to replicate these findings and examine the temporal relationship between duration of PTSS and obstetric and perinatal outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Complex Trauma and Sexual Abuse: Relations to Caregiver-Child Symptom Disagreement.

Trauma-exposed children and their caregivers often differ with regards to how the child is faring following trauma exposure, and this symptom discordance is related to negative clinical outcomes. Even though this symptom disagreement is common, it remains less clear if it is universal across trauma types and there may be sub-groups of trauma-exposed children and their caregivers who are at greater risk for discordance. At this time, prior work has not investigated how more severe traumatic events, such as childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and complex trauma (i.e. chronic/multiple interpersonal traumas prior to age 10), may correspond with caregiver-child symptom concordance. The study objectives were to examine: 1) the level and direction of children's symptom discordance and 2) whether CSA and complex trauma were associated with higher levels of caregiver-child symptom disagreement. Two hundred and sixty-nine treatment-seeking children ages 8-12 (M = 9.91, SD = 2.31; 64.7% female; 51.7% Black) and their caregivers participated in the study. Rates of symptom agreement were in the low range, and caregivers endorsed higher levels of symptoms than children. Complex trauma was only tied to greater posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) disagreement, with caregivers of complex trauma survivors being more likely to acknowledge higher levels of symptoms than children. CSA was not associated with symptom concordance across difficulties. Aspects of the complex trauma definition were also not linked with symptom agreement. Caregivers and trauma-exposed children may have divergent symptom reports and children who have experienced more severe traumatic events may present with greater discordance for PTSS.

Physical Health Outcomes of Trauma Exposure Across the Lifespan.

Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are established risk factors for poorer physical health. Prior work has focused on childhood adversities and PTSS in relation to physical health conditions, but trauma exposure over the lifespan has been overlooked. Further, the associations between trauma and PTSS and other physical health markers, such as diet and exercise, are less clear. Very little is known regarding how different trauma types (i.e., interpersonal, non-interpersonal), may be tied to aspects of physical health. To expand this area of research, this study aimed to: (a) examine the links between cumulative trauma and PTSS, and body mass index (BMI), diet, and exercise; and (b) investigate the relations between interpersonal and non-interpersonal trauma and these three health indices, while controlling for PTSS. Participants were 493 Midwestern University students (Mage = 23.87, standard deviation [SD] = 6.90, range = 18-63; 79.3% female; 57.4% White). Cumulative trauma corresponded with higher BMIs and less exercise use (B = 0.10; B = -0.09), while PTSS were unrelated. Conversely, PTSS were tied to greater consumption of added sugars (B = 0.11), and cumulative trauma was not linked with diet. Interpersonal and non-interpersonal traumas were not tied to BMI or exercise, although interpersonal trauma and PTSS were linked with greater sugar intake and non-interpersonal trauma was associated with fruit and vegetable consumption. Trauma exposure and PTSS may have complicated and distinct associations with physical health indices, such as BMI, diet, and exercise, and additional research is needed to further parse out these relations.

Multidimensional self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between sports participation and victimization: a study of African American girls.

The purpose of this study that focused on African American high school girls was threefold. First, the relationship of sports participation and victimization was explored. Second, the impact of sports participation on self-esteem was assessed. Third, the role of self-esteem and its disaggregated components (social acceptance, competence, and self-confidence) as mediators of the relationship between sports participation and victimization was examined. In accordance with the sport protection hypothesis, it was hypothesized that sports participation would be related to enhanced self-esteem and reduce victimization. Results suggest that sports participation appears to have some relationship to lower rates of victimization. There was also support for our assertion that sports participation was related to enhanced self-esteem. Finally, overall self-esteem and, specifically, the individual component competence mediated the relationship between sports participation and victimization.