Childhood neglect, abuse, and their combination are differentially associated with specific emotion regulation and mental health issues

Childhood neglect, abuse, and their combination are differentially associated with specific emotion regulation and mental health issues | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Childhood neglect, abuse, and their combination are differentially associated with specific emotion regulation and mental health issues Karyn Doba, Laurent Pezard, Jean-Louis Nandrino This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7092663/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Childhood maltreatment is a well-established transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. Effective intervention requires a precise understanding of how distinct dimensions of adversity—neglect (deprivation) and abuse (threat)—uniquely shape emotion regulation. In a large, matched sample constructed using cardinality and optimal pair matching methods, we examined the differential associations between neglect, abuse, and their combination and a broad spectrum of emotion regulation difficulties and mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety, and suicide risk. Neglect was linked to a decreased use of regulatory strategies, reflecting a lack of essential developmental inputs. Abuse was associated with disrupted application of existing strategies, indicating interference with functional regulation. Critically, combined exposure to both neglect and abuse resulted in the most pervasive impairments across basic, cognitive, and interpersonal regulation. These findings support dimensional models of adversity and underscore the need for trauma-specific interventions tailored to early-life experiences of threat and deprivation. Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Health sciences/Risk factors Childhood maltreatment Emotion regulation Neglect and abuse Depression and anxiety Suicide risk Dimensional models of adversity Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supplementary.pdf Supplementary Informations Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7092663","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607927885,"identity":"c5f3e624-74d8-41f5-8368-72b76217ce83","order_by":0,"name":"Karyn Doba","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9klEQVRIie3RP2vCQBjH8Z9cOZfDrCcHeQ0PBFokfTEthbgozeimLu3iC7iX4dTZcGuLa8GlXW7q4CQOGfo06iSXOjrcd0geOD48+QPEYleYPtwECGIFvqInxJyn9BIiHxoiRWfGJLuEKGpGiX9I//XDmxJ5etd935mydJBdJlvQc4gYNbw1FsNssBi/GUuuebDKggazAElRSKPgHpcrJoqK6QsTp1BTaEua+CNZ//g/0mxxNShIjD5t+RzxQPcHghbSt17kivhdrM/yE6kWFCZ6XXQ2asJfLHn63qhaI0lc9bWfhAl3o3F+3Ab4N25bj2OxWCz2CzfxRTENDE1QAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Université","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Karyn","middleName":"","lastName":"Doba","suffix":""},{"id":607927886,"identity":"41b7eb75-7f24-4f45-bd0c-f45180a96b00","order_by":1,"name":"Laurent Pezard","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Aix-Marseille Université","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Laurent","middleName":"","lastName":"Pezard","suffix":""},{"id":607927887,"identity":"90110709-2953-459d-af64-fc8f0ed78528","order_by":2,"name":"Jean-Louis Nandrino","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Université de Lille","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jean-Louis","middleName":"","lastName":"Nandrino","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-10 11:45:29","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7092663/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7092663/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105903815,"identity":"91820e2e-1a28-4575-8da0-bc2cbd3c06b9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-01 09:54:04","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":761391,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7092663/v1_covered_49d825a2-cd42-4a28-9a5d-a426fe533dc1.pdf"},{"id":104859190,"identity":"eaacb5fc-dc5f-4150-9d6a-19acec75a9b3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-18 04:45:19","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1717052,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Informations","description":"","filename":"supplementary.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7092663/v1/f88f2d9fb65145fd94910a5c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Childhood neglect, abuse, and their combination are differentially associated with specific emotion regulation and mental health issues","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Childhood maltreatment, Emotion regulation, Neglect and abuse, Depression and anxiety, Suicide risk, Dimensional models of adversity","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7092663/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7092663/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Childhood maltreatment is a well-established transdiagnostic risk\r\nfactor for psychopathology. Effective intervention requires a precise\r\nunderstanding of how distinct dimensions of adversity—neglect (deprivation)\r\nand abuse (threat)—uniquely shape emotion regulation. In a\r\nlarge, matched sample constructed using cardinality and optimal pair\r\nmatching methods, we examined the differential associations between\r\nneglect, abuse, and their combination and a broad spectrum of emotion\r\nregulation difficulties and mental health outcomes including depression,\r\nanxiety, and suicide risk. Neglect was linked to a decreased use\r\nof regulatory strategies, reflecting a lack of essential developmental\r\ninputs. Abuse was associated with disrupted application of existing\r\nstrategies, indicating interference with functional regulation. Critically,\r\ncombined exposure to both neglect and abuse resulted in the\r\nmost pervasive impairments across basic, cognitive, and interpersonal\r\nregulation. These findings support dimensional models of adversity and underscore the need for trauma-specific interventions tailored to\r\nearly-life experiences of threat and deprivation.","manuscriptTitle":"Childhood neglect, abuse, and their combination are differentially associated with specific emotion regulation and mental health issues","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-18 04:45:14","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7092663/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"communications-psychology","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"commspsychol","sideBox":"Learn more about [Communications Psychology](http://www.nature.com/commspsychol/)","snPcode":"44271","submissionUrl":"https://mts-commspsychol.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex","title":"Communications Psychology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Communications Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e5da0429-271a-4ad5-99d2-805e1ee03ebc","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 18th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"decision","content":"revise","date":"2026-04-29T12:38:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":64687051,"name":"Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour"},{"id":64687052,"name":"Health sciences/Risk factors"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-29T12:41:42+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-18 04:45:14","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7092663","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7092663","identity":"rs-7092663","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}