Intra- and interpersonal emotion regulation are altered in individuals with childhood maltreatment: Cross-sectional associations and effects on daily life mood

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with deficits in intrapersonal ER (regulating emotions internally), whereas the role of interpersonal ER (seeking support from others to regulate emotions) remains unclear. We explored the CM-ER association in two studies. Data and code are available at https://osf.io/cbkyj/. Study 1 tested pre-registered hypotheses (https://osf.io/2kt35) on the association between CM and self-reported ER difficulties in a web-based sample (N=553). Results replicated a positive association between CM severity and intrapersonal ER difficulties and revealed differential effects of abuse versus neglect. Additionally, CM was associated with lower use of and more difficulties in interpersonal ER. For study 2, we re-analyzed an ambulatory assessment dataset (N=103) with six pseudo-randomized daily assessments over seven days (3,973 observations). In exploratory analyses, we tested whether ER predicted negative mood in the context of interpersonal stressors, beyond any effects of CM. Results showed that difficulties in intra- but not interpersonal ER predicted a more negative momentary mood in the context of interpersonal stressors (above any effect of CM severity), which underlines intrapersonal ER as a treatment target with likely daily life consequences. We discuss the reduced use of interpersonal ER in CM in light of recent findings on trust in individuals with CM.