Dampening of positive affect partially accounts for the association between women’s reported history of child maltreatment and current depressive symptoms

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Child maltreatment is associated with impairments in reward sensitivity (responding to positive stimuli in-the-moment) as well as chronic anhedonia, lack of positive moods and pleasure to environmental stimuli. To date though, emotion regulation strategies that account for these deficits in positive moods and responses is limited. We examined the role of positive rumination and dampening of positive affect, both voluntary emotion regulation strategies. We hypothesized that alterations in positive rumination and dampening would explain the association between women’s history of child maltreatment and risk for current depressive symptoms. Given that child maltreatment also impairs emotion regulation of negative affect, we also explored the unique effects of positive affective strategies after controlling for dysphoric rumination. Methods Undergraduate women ( n = 122) completed surveys on child maltreatment, depressive symptoms, and their tendency to dampen or engage in positive rumination in response to positive affect, reflecting cross-sectional data. The PROCESS macro, model 4 was run in SPSS to examine the extent to which emotion regulation strategies accounted for the association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptoms. Results Child maltreatment history was associated with a higher tendency to dampen positive affect but was not linked with positive rumination. Dampening partially explained the link between child maltreatment and women’s current depressive symptoms. Dampening continued to account for unique variance in the association between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms (β = 0.13) after including rumination in the model. Conclusions Results suggests that emotion suppression strategies among child maltreatment survivors may also extend to positive affect, and specificity in regulation strategies are altered. Currently dysphoric women with a history of child maltreatment tend to dampen their positive moods and reactions to events, which has immediate treatment implications for this population. Future, longitudinal research is warranted to clarify the role of alterations in positive emotion regulations strategies in understanding how child maltreatment fosters risk for psychopathology such as depression. Child maltreatment depression dampening positive rumination emotion regulation Figures Figure 1 Background Child maltreatment refers to the abuse (sexual, emotional, or physical) and/or neglect (physical, or emotional) of children from the time of birth to age 18 [1] and is an acknowledged global threat to public health and human rights [2]. Unfortunately, though horrific, child maltreatment is not rare and rates and increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic [3]. In 2022 over 7 per 1,000 children experienced child maltreatment, with 558,899 cases submitted to Child Protective Services (CPS) in the United States [4]. This is likely an under-estimate, given most cases are reported to CPS via informants (e.g., teachers, police) and rates of child maltreatment are exponentially higher when self-report data is collected [5]. Child maltreatment is frequently chronic in nature and increases transdiagnostic risk for a range of psychopathology across the lifespan, including Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) [6–9]. Child maltreatment is also a predictor of suicidal ideation and attempts [10, 11] a common symptom and risk associated with depression. MDD is one of the most common mental illnesses that has increased in prevalence over the past decade and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic [12]. MDD is also frequently a debilitating disorder [13, 14]. Among individuals with MDD, those with a history of child maltreatment tend to have a poorer prognosis, with lower treatment response, and experience more severe, chronic depression and associated difficulties across the lifespan [15, 16]. Delineating how the experience of child maltreatment fosters risk for psychopathology such as MDD is critical to divert risk for chronic struggles with mental health. The higher rates of child maltreatment among girls has been implicated in gender differences in MDD and psychopathology [17, 18]. Research consistently supports that girls experience higher rates of child maltreatment than boys, particularly sexual abuse [19]. Starting in adolescence, girls are twice as likely to develop MDD as boys, and this gender difference is maintained across the lifespan [20, 21]. There is also evidence of gender moderation, such that child physical abuse has been found to increase vulnerability to depression among women; but not men [6]. Therefore, understanding how child maltreatment increases risk for depression among girls and women is particularly essential. One mechanism by which child maltreatment fosters chronic risk for depression is by altering emotion regulation. Emotion regulation refers to the internal and external processes by which an individual monitors, evaluates and modifies emotions in order to achieve their goals [22, 23]. Emotion regulation included both voluntary as well as automatic processes. Reward sensitivity reflects our capacity to anticipate and respond to positive stimuli [24], with blunted sensitivity strongly linked to depression risk [25, 26]. The experience of child maltreatment impairs reward sensitivity [8]. Children and adults with a history of child maltreatment tend to be less sensitive to positive stimuli, rate reward cues less positively [27, 28] and are slower to recognize and learn from rewarding patterns [29]. This indicates that individuals with a history of child maltreatment struggle to upregulate positive affect in response to and anticipation of rewards, affectively failing to register and/or experience happiness, excitement, or surprise. The blunted emotional responses to positive stimuli correspond with a lack of neural activation in areas implicated in reward sensitivity [8, 27, 30, 31]. Given these neural deficits are evident in children with a history of maltreatment [32] as well as adults, neurobiological alterations in reward sensitivity may reflect chronic risk factors for psychopathology [33–35]. This may explain why individuals with a history of child maltreatment tend to experience blunted positive affect in response to rewarding aspects of their environment and are more vulnerable to depression. Parallel research on positive moods (or sustained emotions over time) supports that how we initially react to stimuli such as rewards impacts our general moods. Individuals with a history of child maltreatment report less frequent and less intense positive moods than individuals without a history of child abuse. Instead of positive moods, child maltreatment is linked with experiencing higher levels of anhedonia [36–39]. Anhedonia reflects an inability to experience pleasure or positive emotions and is a core symptom of MDD [1]. Anhedonia has also been found to account for the association between child trauma and depressive symptoms [36, 39], particularly for individuals who have experienced child neglect [40, 41]. In summary, child maltreatment may impair the experience of positive emotions and more chronic moods such as anhedonia through involuntary emotional processes such as altering reward sensitivity [31], but it is also possible that voluntary emotion regulation processes within women’s control contribute to their emotional experience. Women who have experienced child maltreatment may be more likely to engage in ineffective emotion regulation strategies that serve to hinder their experience of positive affect. Dampening reflects the tendency to stifle positive moods and ongoing reactions to events as or after they are acknowledged or felt [42]. For example, an individual may respond to joy with unease or focus on how the present feeling of joy will not last, which in turn lessens the emotional experience instead of amplifying or sustaining the feeling. The tendency to down-regulate or suppress positive affect and thoughts in the moment may lead to deficits in positive moods (or anhedonia) over time. In line with this theory, dampening increases risk for depressive symptoms [42–44]. One the one hand there is extensive research demonstrating that children with a history of maltreatment respond to stressful experiences (including negative affect) by suppressing their emotions [45], and emotional suppression increases risk for depression [46]. To date there is limited research on whether the tendency to suppress (or dampen) extends to positive emotions and experiences in this vulnerable population. Dampening has been linked with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) [47, 48] suggesting dampening is associated with a history of trauma. To our knowledge, only one study has linked dampening of positive affect with childhood trauma severity, and found that dampening indirectly explained the association between childhood trauma history and current (PTSD) symptoms [49]. Understanding whether women with a history of child maltreatment tend to dampen their positive emotions and experiences has clear clinical implications given that dampening is a voluntary (malleable) that could be targeted in psychosocial interventions if clinically indicated. Alternatively, the impairments in positive affective functioning seen in women with a history of child maltreatment may reflect a lack of reliance on adaptive emotion regulation strategies that serve to amplify and maintain positive affective experiences. Positive rumination refers to the tendency to react to positive affect and stimuli by focusing on positive self-qualities (self-focused positive rumination) and/or focus on enjoying the affective and bodily experience (emotion-focused rumination) [42]. Thus, although both positive rumination and dampening involve mindful responses to ongoing positive experiences, positive rumination involves approach strategies designed to focus-on, savor and maintain the moment, in contrast to the goal of suppressing the experience with dampening. Deficits in positive rumination would align with the research supporting reward insensitivity seen among individuals with a history of maltreatment. The implication would be that lack of positive moods and anhedonia in this population could be driven by a lack of awareness to mindfully tend to and experience positive experiences as they occur, perhaps due to deficits in recognizing and learning from positive experiences [29]. Positive rumination has consistently been linked with depression risk [42, 47, 50], however the role of positive rumination among individuals with a history of child maltreatment is less certain. While some studies have found an association between lower positive rumination and heightened PTSD symptom severity [48, 51] others have failed to find a significant association [47, 49, 52]. One explanation may be that most research has not focused specifically on history of childhood maltreatment, however the initial study to examine this link failed to find an association between childhood trauma history severity and positive rumination [49]. Thus the evidence for anticipating positive rumination to explain the assocation between childhood maltreatment and current depressive symptoms is less certain, but replication of initial findings are warranted before discounting this voluntary regulation strategy. Among women with a history of child maltreatment, reliance on dampening of positive affect and deficits in positive rumination may be common emotion regulation strategies in response to positive affect and events for several reasons. First, in addition to alterations in reward sensitivity, individuals with a history of child maltreatment tend to be hypervigilant to potential threats, which corresponds with alterations in neural, autonomic and neuro-endocrine stress response systems [32, 53–59]. The combination of reduced motivation for positive stimuli paired with enhanced emotional reactivity to threatening stimuli is particularly detrimental to resilience and mental well-being [60]. This pattern has been interpreted as a strategic survival strategy whereby individuals prioritize avoiding threats and thus are motivated to focus on avoiding punishment instead of seeking or savoring rewards [61]. Thus, women with a history of child maltreatment may intentionally minimize positive rumination and instead dampen their responses to positive experiences to maintain safety by keeping resources alert to threats in the environment. Additionally, child maltreatment has insidious effects on youth’s developing identity, sense of self-worth and self-esteem [62–65]. Thus, individuals with a history child maltreatment may feel they are undeserving of positive experiences (less likely to engage in self-focused positive rumination) and may even experience co-occurring feelings of shame and discomfort [66], which might interfere with the capacity to engage in emotion-focused positive rumination. Furthermore, evidence supports that trauma history alters long term memory, including impairments in retrieving, maintaining, and integrating positive autobiographical memories over time [ 67, 68, 69]. Thus, there are also reasons to suspect that women with a history of child maltreatment may be less likely to engage in positive rumination to enhance the experience of positive events and/or instead may be more likely to dampen positive emotions and reactions, such that they may not identify with positive experiences, and thus are less likely to focus on actions, thoughts, or situations that may illicit and maintain positive feelings. The primary aim of the current study was to examine if dampening and positive rumination explained the association between child maltreatment and current depressive symptoms among emerging-adult women. Undergraduate women were recruited to complete self-report measures on dampening, child maltreatment history and current depressive symptoms. We hypothesized (H1) that women with a history of child maltreatment would report a higher tendency to dampen and lower tendency to engage in positive rumination in response to positive affect and positive stimuli. We then hypothesized (H2) that dampening and positive rumination would explain the association between history of child maltreatment and higher depressive symptom levels. That is, we expected an indirect effect between child maltreatment severity and depressive symptoms such that child maltreatment severity would be associated with impaired regulation of positive affect (lower positive rumination and higher dampening tendency), which in turn would be associated with higher current depressive symptom levels. We intentionally avoid the term ‘mediation’ as this implies directional, causal pathways that we are unable to explore with cross-sectional data. That said, experts have called for identifying modifiable targets in trauma informed care [70]. Our study provides one of the initial examinations on the role of positive rumination and dampening as a voluntary (modifiable) emotion regulation strategies not currently included in suggested treatment and prevention targets for individuals with a history of child maltreatment [71]. A secondary aim of the current study was to examine the utility of focusing on positive affect regulation strategies as a unique intervening variables between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels. To justify further research and resources on positive affect regulation, either positive rumination and/or dampening should account for additional variance after controlling for established risk factors known to impair emotion regulation and foster depression risk. Current etiology of how child maltreatment fosters vulnerability to psychopathology acknowledge the combination of impairments in regulating emotional responses rewarding stimuli (difficulty upregulating positive affect) as well as threatening stimuli (difficulty downregulating negative affect) [8, 60, 61]. Therefore, we also examined whether positive rumination and dampening of positive affect continued to account for variance in the link between child maltreatment history and women’s current depressive symptom levels after covarying for rumination. Dysphoric rumination is a poor emotion regulation strategy that amplifies and extends negative moods. The tendency to ruminate, or dwell on dysphoric moods and related events [72] is also an established predictor of depression risk among youth and adults [73]. Individuals with a history of child maltreatment have a greater tendency to ruminate [74, 75], which fosters depression risk. Further, college-aged students who have experienced child maltreatment may be especially vulnerable to this maladaptive regulation strategy [76], with ruminative thoughts often returning to anger-inducing events and memories [77]. A recent meta-analysis supports that rumination is one of the ineffective emotion regulation strategies that mediates the relationship between child maltreatment and psychopathology [78]. Therefore, in a statistical model examining both alterations in both positive and negative emotion regulation, we hypothesized (H3) that both rumination and positive rumination and dampening would account for women with child maltreatment histories’ higher depressive symptom levels. Methods Participants and Procedure Undergraduate women were recruited from the research participant pool of a small liberal arts college in the southeastern US ( n = 122). Participants visited the laboratory and completed self-report questionnaires as well as psychophysiological assessments as part of a larger study on emotion regulation. At the onset of the visit, written informed consent was first obtained before proceeding with the study. Ages ranged between 18–22 [ M = 20.03 (1.94)], except one participant was 37. Most identified as White (79.5%) followed by: Multi-racial (9.0%), African American (8.2%), Asian (3.3%), and Hispanic or Latina (4.9%) ethnicity. Participants received course credit as compensation for their time. Measures Depressive symptoms were assessed via the Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale which was designed to assess depression symptoms in the general population [CES-D: 79]. Internal reliability in our sample was excellent (α = .87). Summary scores ranged from 0—44, with 25% of the sample scoring at or above the cut-off (≥ 21) for moderate depressive symptoms among college aged samples [80]. Child maltreatment history was examined via the Child Trauma Questionnaire [CTQ: 81]. The CTQ has 25 items that are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale, with response options ranging from “ Never true ” to “ Very often true .” The CTQ has five subscales: child sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect. Each scale has five items. Subscale scores may be calculated by summing responses within each abuse/neglect subtype. Alternatively, all items may be summed for a total score of child maltreatment. The CTQ provides established thresholds to determine moderate levels of abuse (or higher) for each subscale. In the current sample of 122 women, 30 reported experiencing one or more types of at least moderate levels of abuse and/or neglect (25% of the sample), with comorbid subtypes common. Given that child maltreatment severity is dimensional in nature [82, 83] and the comorbidity of maltreatment in the current sample, childhood maltreatment was calculated by summing all 25 items for one continuous variable. The CTQ has demonstrated excellent psychometric properties in both clinical and nonclinical samples, including high levels of concurrent validity with therapists’ ratings of abuse [81, 84]. Internal validity in the current sample was high (α = .90). Positive affect regulation strategies were measured via the Response to Positive Affect scale [RPA: 42]. The RPA has 17 items and asks participants to think about how they respond when they feel happy. The RPA has three subscales. Self-focused positive rumination is assessed via 4-items, e.g., When you are feeling happy how often do you think “I am living up to my potential”. Emotion-focused rumination is assessed via 5-items, e.g., When you are feeling happy how often do you “think about how happy you feel? ”. The dampening subscale has 8-items, e.g., When you are feeling happy how often do you think, “I don’t deserve this.” The RPA has a Likert-type format with responses ranging from 1 almost never to 4 almost always and is scored by summing all subscale items. In the current study internal reliability was good for the dampening scale (α = .83). In contrast neither positive rumination sub scale met typical internal reliability standards independently (α = .62 for each). When emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination items were combined for a general score of positive rumination, satisfactory internal reliability was met (α = .77). Thus, only two emotion regulation strategies of positive affect were examined in analyses: dampening and general positive rumination. Rumination was measured via the brooding subscale of the Ruminative Response Scale [RRS-B: 85]. The RRS-B has 10-items and two subscales, reflection and brooding. The RRS-B asks participants to consider what they usually do when they feel sad. Answers are given via a Likert-type format ranging from 1 almost never to 4 almost always. We focused on the 5-item brooding subscale (α = .70), given that brooding has consistently been found to be the more maladaptive component associated with psychopathology risk, including depression [85]. The brooding subscale exhibited satisfactory internal reliability in the current sample (α = .75). Data Analytic Method Pearson correlations were conducted to examine the bivariate associations between child maltreatment history, emotion regulation strategies, and depressive symptoms. The PROCESS SPSS Macro 3.3, [Model 4, 86] was used to simultaneous test direct and indirect effects on depressive symptoms. Models were run by generating bias-corrected bootstrapped effect with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The indirect path (child maltreatment ◊ dampening/ positive rumination ◊ depressive symptom levels) is interpreted as statistically significant if the CI does not include zero, indicating that dampening and/or positive rumination serve as intervening variables that explain variance in the association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels. Results Data Preparation Some survey item-level data was missing (< .01%). To justify data imputation via maximum likelihood estimation, we examined if data were missing at random [87]. Little’s missing completely at random test was non-significant, χ 2 (428) = 435.324, p = .394, supporting the imputation of missing values [88]. Next, we explored whether variables displayed significant skewness, which could compromise results. Transformations were applied to depressive symptoms (square root), dampening (log) and child maltreatment (inverse) to meet assumptions of normality. To ensure that results could not be attributed to suppressor effects, we display bivariate correlations in Table 1 . Table 1 Bivariate Associations Raw Transformed Variables 1 2 3 4 Mean SD Mean SD 1 Child Maltreatment — 33.98 10.30 0.03 0.07 2 Positive Rumination -0.05 — 24.46 4.30 — — 3 Dampening 0.31*** 0.04 — 13.38 4.10 1.11 0.12 4 Brooding Rumination 0.31*** 0.03 0.53*** — 11.43 3.17 — — 5 Depressive Symptoms 0.37*** -0.11 0.60*** 0.62*** 15.98 9.34 3.81 1.20 Note : raw scores are presented for clarity *** p < .001 H1: Is child maltreatment history associated with positive rumination and dampening of positive affect? Our first hypothesis was only partially supported. Women who reported a greater history of child maltreatment were significantly more likely to dampen positive affect ( r = 0.31, p < .001). Consistent with prior research, dampening was associated with higher current depressive symptom levels ( r = 0.60, p < .001). In contrast, positive rumination was not associated with child maltreatment severity ( r = -0.05, p = .582) nor current depressive symptom levels ( r = -0.11, p = .238). Thus, the role of positive rumination could not be explored further in other hypotheses. H2: Does dampening account for the link between child maltreatment history and women’s current depressive symptom levels? We continued to test if dampening accounted for the association between child maltreatment history and higher current depressive symptoms levels. Model results are displayed in Fig. 1 A. Child maltreatment history accounted for 14% of the variance in depressive symptom levels. With the addition of dampening as a predictor, the model explained substantially more variance (R 2 = . 40, p < .001) in depressive symptom levels. Both child maltreatment, t (120) = 2.67, p = .009, β = 0.20, and dampening, t (120) = 7.17, p < .001, β = 0.54, continued to be associated with higher depressive symptom levels. The indirect path (child maltreatment◊ dampening◊ depressive symptoms) was significant: αβ = 0.17, (95% CI: 0.07–0.26). Since the direct effect of child maltreatment remained significant, this pattern indicates that dampening only partially accounted for the association between child maltreatment and women’s current depressive symptom levels. H3: Does dampening continue to account for unique variance after covarying the indirect effect of rumination between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels? To determine if dampening accounted for unique variance in women’s depressive symptoms the model was re-run with rumination and dampening as simultaneous predictors. Results are displayed in Fig. 1 B. This model explained half the variance, R 2 = . 50, p < .001) in depressive symptom levels. Both rumination, t (119) = 5.00, p < .001, β = 0.39, and dampening, t (119) = 4.53, p < .001, β = 0.35, were associated with higher current depressive symptom levels. The indirect effect of dampening between child maltreatment and depressive symptom levels remained significant, αβ = 0.11, (95% CI: 0.04–0.19), even with the significant indirect effect of rumination, δε = 0.12, (95% CI: 0.05–0.20). With both dampening and rumination in the model, the direct association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels was no longer statistically significant, t (119) = 1.97, p = .051, β = 0.14. This pattern suggests that dampening and rumination account for the association between child maltreatment and higher current depressive symptom levels. Discussion Deficits in emotion regulation reflect one mechanism by which child maltreatment increases risk for psychopathology such as depression across the lifespan. The goal of the current study was to extend current research on modifiable, emotion regulation strategies of positive affect that may be implicated in the link between child maltreatment severity and depression risk among emerging adult women. We found that child maltreatment severity was associated with a tendency to dampen positive affect but not linked with positive rumination. Further, we found that dampening partially explained the association between child maltreatment severity and current depressive symptom levels. Results provide initial support for the role of dampening positive affect on the link between child maltreatment history and adult women’s heightened depression risk. To our knowledge the current study is one of the first to assess the link between child maltreatment severity and a greater tendency to dampen positive moods and reactions. The pattern of findings replicates and extends one prior study conducted among individuals with trauma history [49]. We found that women with higher child maltreatment severity tend to dampen their reactions to positive moods and events more than women with lower (or absent) child maltreatment history. The association between child maltreatment history and dampening of positive affect and reactions converges with research suggesting that individuals with a history of child maltreatment tend to not to be motivated by rewards [61], and may even experience discomfort or shame during positive experiences [66]. Child maltreatment history has long been associated with maladaptive emotion regulation strategies such as emotional suppression of negative affect [78]. The current results suggest that women with a greater history of childhood maltreatment also suppress their experiences of positive affect. Consistent, voluntary suppression of positive affect in-the-moment may explain why individuals with child maltreatment history report higher levels of anhedonia in their daily lives [37, 38, 40, 41]. We found partial support for our hypothesis that dampening would explain the association between child maltreatment history and women’s current depressive symptom levels. Dampening served as a significant intervening variable, accounting for some of the variance in the association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels. With the addition of brooding rumination in the model though, both maladaptive emotion regulation strategies-maintained significance as intervening variables, and the association between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms was fully explained. This model is exciting for multiple reasons. Brooding rumination is a strong, established risk factor for depression among both children and adults [73], as well as a mechanism of risk between child maltreatment and depression [78]. Therefore, the current results support the robustness of the effect of dampening, with emotional suppression of positive affect explaining unique variance in the link between child maltreatment history and young women’s current depressive symptoms, after controlling for brooding rumination. Additionally, our results are consistent with an initial study demonstrating dampening accounted for the association between child maltreatment severity and current PTSD symptoms [49]. Thus, dampening may reflect a newly identified mechanism of risk between child maltreatment and psychopathology risk (serving a similar, independent function as ineffective emotion regulation of negative affect). That said, cross-sectional data limits our capacity to interpret directional effects between child maltreatment, dampening, and depression risk. It is also possible that women currently struggling with depressive symptoms have a higher tendency to dampen positive affect, and history of child maltreatment identifies which individuals engage in dampening among dysphoric adults. Given that dampening is a risk factor for depression that maintains and exacerbates depressive symptoms [42–44], identifying which clients dampen still has important treatment implications. Finding that positive rumination was not associated with young women’s depression risk, or child maltreatment history contributes to a literature on the mixed support on the role of this regulation strategy. The lack of association between positive rumination and depressive symptoms contrasts prior research supporting an association between positive rumination and depression risk [42, 47, 50]. Our failing to find an association between positive rumination and child maltreatment aligns with the one other study to examine this association [49], and other research indicating positive rumination is not linked with PTSD risk [47, 49, 52]. Taken together, research to date suggests that positive rumination may not be a regulation strategy implicated in the link between child maltreatment and associated distress. However, the inconsistency across studies may also suggests future research that examines potential moderators will account for current discrepancies. The current results converge with ongoing research supporting the role of alterations in emotion regulation of both positive and negative affect among individuals with a history of child maltreatment and offer multiple theoretical implications. Finding that rumination and dampening each served as intervening variables between child maltreatment and current depressive symptoms aligns with research supporting that the combination of alterations in responding to positive and negative experiences among individuals with child maltreatment history is especially caustic for increasing vulnerability to psychopathology [61]. Substantial research supports that individuals with a history of child maltreatment display deficits in reward sensitivity coinciding with alterations in neural activation [8, 27, 30, 31]. One possibility of the current results is that the blunted emotional responses displayed to positive stimuli may be at least partially driven by the voluntary regulation strategy to intentionally suppress the emotional responses to positive stimuli, rather than reflecting a fixed neurobiological scar of trauma history. Additionally, individuals with trauma histories also display deficits in their long-term memory of positive events [67, 69], and long term memory deficits are implicated in depression risk [89, 90]. Thus, another possibility is that dampening may contribute to the impairments seen in individuals with maltreatment history inability to consolidate positive experiences into their autobiographical memory. Future, longitudinal research is necessary to support the potential role of dampening as a risk factor in both potential implications. Taken together, finding that dampening explains unique variance between child maltreatment and women’s depressive symptoms aligns with prior models on the role of emotional suppression in fostering risk in this vulnerable population. Results may also suggest exciting directions for future research such as exploring whether dampening, as a voluntary emotion regulation strategy, contributes to the alterations in reward sensitivity, long-term memory, and higher levels of anhedonia displayed in individuals with a history of child maltreatment. The current cross-sectional data still has clinical implications for clinicians working with depressed clients. In the current sample, among dysphoric clients, those with a history of child maltreatment were the most likely to engage in dampening. Since dampening has been found to maintain and exacerbate depressive symptoms [42–44], the current results emphasize the utility of assessing in child maltreatment history when working with depressed women. As a modifiable, voluntary emotion regulation strategy, dampening may be targeted in treatment through various strategies. Engaging in an emotion regulation strategy that is mutually exclusive to dampening is one avenue. Savoring reflects the tendency to attend to, focus on, recall and anticipate positive moods and events [91]. Savoring is an effective way to amplify positive affect in the short-term [92], and increases happiness over time, in day to day living [93] and lowers depressive symptoms over time [94]. Savoring is not limited to current positive experiences, which perhaps is a defining difference from positive rumination. Savoring, which can include reminiscing and anticipating past and future experiences improves positive affective functioning even in the absence of or experiencing fewer daily positive events [95]. However, an important first step will be to explore with clients their reasons for dampening. Individuals with child maltreatment history may feel they are unworthy of positive experiences and may even experience simultaneous discomfort in response to positive affect and events [66]. Thus, introducing savoring with clients with child maltreatment history may best be approached via an exposure model, allowing clients to first habituate to their distress around positive affect, memories and/or stimuli in-session with the guidance of a clinician, before expecting clients to be able to successfully implement this emotion regulation strategy in their daily lives. In summary, results bear clinical implications for strengthening emotion regulation of positive affect among dysphoric women. Future, longitudinal research will reveal whether targeting dampening in prevention efforts among individuals with child maltreatment history is warranted. Several limitations of the current study must be acknowledged. Foremost, the cross-sectional data makes it impossible to explore directional effects between child maltreatment, dampening and depressive symptoms. Future, longitudinal research is warranted. Additionally, our assessment of child maltreatment was limited to retrospective report, which has inherent limitations, including memory deficits and mood bias. Further, very little diversity in the current sample (including ethnic/racial, sexual orientation and/or gender diversity). Since marginalized communities also experience dehumanizing microaggressions chronically, on a frequent, daily basis [96, 97], it would be inappropriate to generalize results beyond white, middle class, cisgender, heterosexual women. Therefore, further research is needed to understand the role of emotion regulation strategies on child maltreatment history among marginalized groups, especially given the strong links between racial discrimination, transphobia and homophobia on vulnerability to depression [98–100]. The effects of discrimination may also emerge during childhood/adolescence [101] and tend to be more pronounced for BIPOC girls [102]. Thus, we encourage further research to explore the function of emotion regulation strategies, such as dampening, between the experiences of marginalization and child maltreatment and risk for depression. Conclusions In summary, the current results highlight the need for clarifying the function of positive emotion regulation strategies among individuals with child maltreatment history. Findings support specificity in which positive emotion regulation strategies account for depression risk among this vulnerable population (only dampening, not positive rumination). Further, finding that incorporation of both positive and negative emotion regulation strategies, brooding rumination and dampening of positive affect, was the strongest model that accounted for the variance in explaining the link between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms aligns with literature supporting that impairments in both positive and negative affective functioning are implicated in how child maltreatment fosters risk for psychopathology across the lifespan. Future, longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the role of positive emotion regulation strategies in risk and resilience models of psychopathology among individuals who have experienced child maltreatment. Abbreviations Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate: This research was approved by Christopher Newport University. All methods were performed in accordance with the Institutional Review Board guidelines and regulations. At the outset of the assessment, informed consent was obtained in writing. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Availability of Data and materials statement: The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available due to ongoing analyses but are available from the corresponding author, L. Stone, upon reasonable request. Competing Interests: The authors have no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest to declare. Funding: NA: This study was not funded by external sponsors. Authors’ contributions: LS developed the study design and oversaw data collection and analyses. Both authors contributed to the literature review and manuscript writing. Acknowledgements: We appreciate the strong contributions of the Relationships in Adolescent Development (RAD) Laboratory staff for their assistance with data collection. We also wish to acknowledge the time investment and emotional labor of our participants in sharing their personal experiences with us through surveys. References American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC2022. World Health Organization. Preventing child maltreatment: A guide to taking action and generating evidence. 2006 [Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/preventing-child-maltreatment-a-guide-to-taking-action-and-generating-evidence. Kovler ML, Ziegfeld S, Ryan LM, Goldstein MA, Gardner R, Garcia AV, et al. Increased proportion of physical child abuse injuries at a level I pediatric trauma center during the Covid-19 pandemic. Child abuse & neglect. 2021;116:104756. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; Administration for Children and Families; Administration on Children Youth and Families; Children’s Bureau. 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Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in BMC Psychology → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 05 Nov, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 29 Oct, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 29 Oct, 2024 First submitted to journal 24 Oct, 2024 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. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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-5328157","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":374343737,"identity":"c5aa7198-a873-4052-823f-2536d9dd6918","order_by":0,"name":"LINDSEY STONE","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Georgia Southern University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"LINDSEY","middleName":"","lastName":"STONE","suffix":""},{"id":374343738,"identity":"09c8b1ef-0716-429f-b6ee-f07ddb32c227","order_by":1,"name":"Alisha Sylvester","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Georgia Southern University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alisha","middleName":"","lastName":"Sylvester","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-10-24 20:08:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5328157/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5328157/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02503-8","type":"published","date":"2025-02-28T15:57:13+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":69360442,"identity":"58f07eb6-1c67-4540-8108-99ca5e62ff9e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-19 14:18:24","extension":"jpg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":203725,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eIneffective strategies for regulating positive and negative affect accounted for the association between childhood maltreatment and women’s current depressive symptoms.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003cem\u003e p \u0026lt; \u003c/em\u003e.001, ** \u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .10, * \u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .05\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5328157/v1/a844678e2bcab636004a27dc.jpg"},{"id":77622387,"identity":"46fe1ffe-8f34-41cf-ae16-db3983bacab4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-03 16:05:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":983933,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5328157/v1/98d47a3f-c3bd-4a67-a60b-d727f3632aba.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Dampening of positive affect partially accounts for the association between women’s reported history of child maltreatment and current depressive symptoms","fulltext":[{"header":"Background","content":"\u003cp\u003eChild maltreatment refers to the abuse (sexual, emotional, or physical) and/or neglect (physical, or emotional) of children from the time of birth to age 18 [1] and is an acknowledged global threat to public health and human rights [2]. Unfortunately, though horrific, child maltreatment is not rare and rates and increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic [3]. In 2022 over 7 per 1,000 children experienced child maltreatment, with 558,899 cases submitted to Child Protective Services (CPS) in the United States [4]. This is likely an under-estimate, given most cases are reported to CPS via informants (e.g., teachers, police) and rates of child maltreatment are exponentially higher when self-report data is collected [5].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChild maltreatment is frequently chronic in nature and increases transdiagnostic risk for a range of psychopathology across the lifespan, including Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) [6\u0026ndash;9]. Child maltreatment is also a predictor of suicidal ideation and attempts [10, 11] a common symptom and risk associated with depression. MDD is one of the most common mental illnesses that has increased in prevalence over the past decade and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic [12]. MDD is also frequently a debilitating disorder [13, 14]. Among individuals with MDD, those with a history of child maltreatment tend to have a poorer prognosis, with lower treatment response, and experience more severe, chronic depression and associated difficulties across the lifespan [15, 16]. Delineating how the experience of child maltreatment fosters risk for psychopathology such as MDD is critical to divert risk for chronic struggles with mental health.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe higher rates of child maltreatment among girls has been implicated in gender differences in MDD and psychopathology [17, 18]. Research consistently supports that girls experience higher rates of child maltreatment than boys, particularly sexual abuse [19]. Starting in adolescence, girls are twice as likely to develop MDD as boys, and this gender difference is maintained across the lifespan [20, 21]. There is also evidence of gender moderation, such that child physical abuse has been found to increase vulnerability to depression among women; but not men [6]. Therefore, understanding how child maltreatment increases risk for depression among girls and women is particularly essential.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOne mechanism by which child maltreatment fosters chronic risk for depression is by altering emotion regulation. Emotion regulation refers to the internal and external processes by which an individual monitors, evaluates and modifies emotions in order to achieve their goals [22, 23]. Emotion regulation included both voluntary as well as automatic processes. Reward sensitivity reflects our capacity to anticipate and respond to positive stimuli [24], with blunted sensitivity strongly linked to depression risk [25, 26]. The experience of child maltreatment impairs reward sensitivity [8]. Children and adults with a history of child maltreatment tend to be less sensitive to positive stimuli, rate reward cues less positively [27, 28] and are slower to recognize and learn from rewarding patterns [29]. This indicates that individuals with a history of child maltreatment struggle to upregulate positive affect in response to and anticipation of rewards, affectively failing to register and/or experience happiness, excitement, or surprise. The blunted emotional responses to positive stimuli correspond with a lack of neural activation in areas implicated in reward sensitivity [8, 27, 30, 31]. Given these neural deficits are evident in children with a history of maltreatment [32] as well as adults, neurobiological alterations in reward sensitivity may reflect chronic risk factors for psychopathology [33\u0026ndash;35]. This may explain why individuals with a history of child maltreatment tend to experience blunted positive affect in response to rewarding aspects of their environment and are more vulnerable to depression.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eParallel research on positive moods (or sustained emotions over time) supports that how we initially react to stimuli such as rewards impacts our general moods. Individuals with a history of child maltreatment report less frequent and less intense positive moods than individuals without a history of child abuse. Instead of positive moods, child maltreatment is linked with experiencing higher levels of anhedonia [36\u0026ndash;39]. Anhedonia reflects an inability to experience pleasure or positive emotions and is a core symptom of MDD [1]. Anhedonia has also been found to account for the association between child trauma and depressive symptoms [36, 39], particularly for individuals who have experienced child neglect [40, 41]. In summary, child maltreatment may impair the experience of positive emotions and more chronic moods such as anhedonia through involuntary emotional processes such as altering reward sensitivity [31], but it is also possible that voluntary emotion regulation processes within women\u0026rsquo;s control contribute to their emotional experience.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWomen who have experienced child maltreatment may be more likely to engage in ineffective emotion regulation strategies that serve to hinder their experience of positive affect. Dampening reflects the tendency to stifle positive moods and ongoing reactions to events \u003cem\u003eas or after they are acknowledged or felt\u003c/em\u003e [42]. For example, an individual may respond to joy with unease or focus on how the present feeling of joy will not last, which in turn lessens the emotional experience instead of amplifying or sustaining the feeling. The tendency to down-regulate or suppress positive affect and thoughts in the moment may lead to deficits in positive moods (or anhedonia) over time. In line with this theory, dampening increases risk for depressive symptoms [42\u0026ndash;44]. One the one hand there is extensive research demonstrating that children with a history of maltreatment respond to stressful experiences (including negative affect) by suppressing their emotions [45], and emotional suppression increases risk for depression [46]. To date there is limited research on whether the tendency to suppress (or dampen) extends to positive emotions and experiences in this vulnerable population. Dampening has been linked with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) [47, 48] suggesting dampening is associated with a history of trauma. To our knowledge, only one study has linked dampening of positive affect with childhood trauma severity, and found that dampening indirectly explained the association between childhood trauma history and current (PTSD) symptoms [49]. Understanding whether women with a history of child maltreatment tend to dampen their positive emotions and experiences has clear clinical implications given that dampening is a voluntary (malleable) that could be targeted in psychosocial interventions if clinically indicated.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlternatively, the impairments in positive affective functioning seen in women with a history of child maltreatment may reflect a lack of reliance on adaptive emotion regulation strategies that serve to amplify and maintain positive affective experiences. Positive rumination refers to the tendency to react to positive affect and stimuli by focusing on positive self-qualities (self-focused positive rumination) and/or focus on enjoying the affective and bodily experience (emotion-focused rumination) [42]. Thus, although both positive rumination and dampening involve mindful responses to ongoing positive experiences, positive rumination involves approach strategies designed to focus-on, savor and maintain the moment, in contrast to the goal of suppressing the experience with dampening. Deficits in positive rumination would align with the research supporting reward insensitivity seen among individuals with a history of maltreatment. The implication would be that lack of positive moods and anhedonia in this population could be driven by a lack of awareness to mindfully tend to and experience positive experiences as they occur, perhaps due to deficits in recognizing and learning from positive experiences [29]. Positive rumination has consistently been linked with depression risk [42, 47, 50], however the role of positive rumination among individuals with a history of child maltreatment is less certain. While some studies have found an association between lower positive rumination and heightened PTSD symptom severity [48, 51] others have failed to find a significant association [47, 49, 52]. One explanation may be that most research has not focused specifically on history of childhood maltreatment, however the initial study to examine this link failed to find an association between childhood trauma history severity and positive rumination [49]. Thus the evidence for anticipating positive rumination to explain the assocation between childhood maltreatment and current depressive symptoms is less certain, but replication of initial findings are warranted before discounting this voluntary regulation strategy. Among women with a history of child maltreatment, reliance on dampening of positive affect and deficits in positive rumination may be common emotion regulation strategies in response to positive affect and events for several reasons. First, in addition to alterations in reward sensitivity, individuals with a history of child maltreatment tend to be hypervigilant to potential threats, which corresponds with alterations in neural, autonomic and neuro-endocrine stress response systems [32, 53\u0026ndash;59]. The combination of reduced motivation for positive stimuli paired with enhanced emotional reactivity to threatening stimuli is particularly detrimental to resilience and mental well-being [60]. This pattern has been interpreted as a strategic survival strategy whereby individuals prioritize avoiding threats and thus are motivated to focus on avoiding punishment instead of seeking or savoring rewards [61]. Thus, women with a history of child maltreatment may intentionally minimize positive rumination and instead dampen their responses to positive experiences to maintain safety by keeping resources alert to threats in the environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAdditionally, child maltreatment has insidious effects on youth\u0026rsquo;s developing identity, sense of self-worth and self-esteem [62\u0026ndash;65]. Thus, individuals with a history child maltreatment may feel they are undeserving of positive experiences (less likely to engage in self-focused positive rumination) and may even experience co-occurring feelings of shame and discomfort [66], which might interfere with the capacity to engage in emotion-focused positive rumination. Furthermore, evidence supports that trauma history alters long term memory, including impairments in retrieving, maintaining, and integrating positive autobiographical memories over time [ 67, 68, 69]. Thus, there are also reasons to suspect that women with a history of child maltreatment may be less likely to engage in positive rumination to enhance the experience of positive events and/or instead may be more likely to dampen positive emotions and reactions, such that they may not identify with positive experiences, and thus are less likely to focus on actions, thoughts, or situations that may illicit and maintain positive feelings. The primary aim of the current study was to examine if dampening and positive rumination explained the association between child maltreatment and current depressive symptoms among emerging-adult women.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUndergraduate women were recruited to complete self-report measures on dampening, child maltreatment history and current depressive symptoms. We hypothesized (H1) that women with a history of child maltreatment would report a higher tendency to dampen and lower tendency to engage in positive rumination in response to positive affect and positive stimuli. We then hypothesized (H2) that dampening and positive rumination would explain the association between history of child maltreatment and higher depressive symptom levels. That is, we expected an indirect effect between child maltreatment severity and depressive symptoms such that child maltreatment severity would be associated with impaired regulation of positive affect (lower positive rumination and higher dampening tendency), which in turn would be associated with higher current depressive symptom levels. We intentionally avoid the term \u0026lsquo;mediation\u0026rsquo; as this implies directional, causal pathways that we are unable to explore with cross-sectional data. That said, experts have called for identifying modifiable targets in trauma informed care [70]. Our study provides one of the initial examinations on the role of positive rumination and dampening as a voluntary (modifiable) emotion regulation strategies not currently included in suggested treatment and prevention targets for individuals with a history of child maltreatment [71].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA secondary aim of the current study was to examine the utility of focusing on positive affect regulation strategies as a \u003cem\u003eunique\u003c/em\u003e intervening variables between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels. To justify further research and resources on positive affect regulation, either positive rumination and/or dampening should account for additional variance after controlling for established risk factors known to impair emotion regulation and foster depression risk. Current etiology of how child maltreatment fosters vulnerability to psychopathology acknowledge the combination of impairments in regulating emotional responses rewarding stimuli (difficulty upregulating positive affect) \u003cem\u003eas well as\u003c/em\u003e threatening stimuli (difficulty downregulating negative affect) [8, 60, 61]. Therefore, we also examined whether positive rumination and dampening of positive affect continued to account for variance in the link between child maltreatment history and women\u0026rsquo;s current depressive symptom levels after covarying for rumination.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDysphoric rumination is a poor emotion regulation strategy that amplifies and extends negative moods. The tendency to ruminate, or dwell on dysphoric moods and related events [72] is also an established predictor of depression risk among youth and adults [73]. Individuals with a history of child maltreatment have a greater tendency to ruminate [74, 75], which fosters depression risk. Further, college-aged students who have experienced child maltreatment may be especially vulnerable to this maladaptive regulation strategy [76], with ruminative thoughts often returning to anger-inducing events and memories [77]. A recent meta-analysis supports that rumination is one of the ineffective emotion regulation strategies that mediates the relationship between child maltreatment and psychopathology [78]. Therefore, in a statistical model examining both alterations in both positive and negative emotion regulation, we hypothesized (H3) that both rumination and positive rumination and dampening would account for women with child maltreatment histories\u0026rsquo; higher depressive symptom levels.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eParticipants and Procedure\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eUndergraduate women were recruited from the research participant pool of a small liberal arts college in the southeastern US (\u003cem\u003en\u0026thinsp;=\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;122). Participants visited the laboratory and completed self-report questionnaires as well as psychophysiological assessments as part of a larger study on emotion regulation. At the onset of the visit, written informed consent was first obtained before proceeding with the study. Ages ranged between 18\u0026ndash;22 [\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;20.03 (1.94)], except one participant was 37. Most identified as White (79.5%) followed by: Multi-racial (9.0%), African American (8.2%), Asian (3.3%), and Hispanic or Latina (4.9%) ethnicity. Participants received course credit as compensation for their time.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMeasures\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eDepressive symptoms\u003c/em\u003e were assessed via the Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale which was designed to assess depression symptoms in the general population [CES-D: 79]. Internal reliability in our sample was excellent (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.87). Summary scores ranged from 0\u0026mdash;44, with 25% of the sample scoring at or above the cut-off (\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;21) for moderate depressive symptoms among college aged samples [80].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eChild maltreatment history\u003c/em\u003e was examined via the Child Trauma Questionnaire [CTQ: 81]. The CTQ has 25 items that are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale, with response options ranging from \u0026ldquo;\u003cem\u003eNever true\u003c/em\u003e\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;\u003cem\u003eVery often true\u003c/em\u003e.\u0026rdquo; The CTQ has five subscales: child sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect. Each scale has five items. Subscale scores may be calculated by summing responses within each abuse/neglect subtype. Alternatively, all items may be summed for a total score of child maltreatment. The CTQ provides established thresholds to determine moderate levels of abuse (or higher) for each subscale. In the current sample of 122 women, 30 reported experiencing one or more types of at least moderate levels of abuse and/or neglect (25% of the sample), with comorbid subtypes common. Given that child maltreatment severity is dimensional in nature [82, 83] and the comorbidity of maltreatment in the current sample, childhood maltreatment was calculated by summing all 25 items for one continuous variable. The CTQ has demonstrated excellent psychometric properties in both clinical and nonclinical samples, including high levels of concurrent validity with therapists\u0026rsquo; ratings of abuse [81, 84]. Internal validity in the current sample was high (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.90).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003ePositive affect regulation strategies\u003c/em\u003e were measured via the Response to Positive Affect scale [RPA: 42]. The RPA has 17 items and asks participants to think about how they respond when they feel happy. The RPA has three subscales. Self-focused positive rumination is assessed via 4-items, e.g., \u003cem\u003eWhen you are feeling happy how often do you think \u0026ldquo;I am living up to my potential\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/em\u003e Emotion-focused rumination is assessed via 5-items, e.g., \u003cem\u003eWhen you are feeling happy how often do you \u0026ldquo;think about how happy you feel? \u0026rdquo;.\u003c/em\u003e The dampening subscale has 8-items, e.g., \u003cem\u003eWhen you are feeling happy how often do you think, \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t deserve this.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e The RPA has a Likert-type format with responses ranging from 1 \u003cem\u003ealmost never\u003c/em\u003e to 4 \u003cem\u003ealmost always and\u003c/em\u003e is scored by summing all subscale items. In the current study internal reliability was good for the dampening scale (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.83). In contrast neither positive rumination sub scale met typical internal reliability standards independently (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.62 for each). When emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination items were combined for a general score of positive rumination, satisfactory internal reliability was met (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.77). Thus, only two emotion regulation strategies of positive affect were examined in analyses: dampening and general positive rumination.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eRumination\u003c/em\u003e was measured via the brooding subscale of the Ruminative Response Scale [RRS-B: 85]. The RRS-B has 10-items and two subscales, reflection and brooding. The RRS-B asks participants to consider what they usually do when they feel sad. Answers are given via a Likert-type format ranging from 1 \u003cem\u003ealmost never\u003c/em\u003e to 4 \u003cem\u003ealmost always.\u003c/em\u003e We focused on the 5-item brooding subscale (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.70), given that brooding has consistently been found to be the more maladaptive component associated with psychopathology risk, including depression [85]. The brooding subscale exhibited satisfactory internal reliability in the current sample (α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.75).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eData Analytic Method\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePearson correlations were conducted to examine the bivariate associations between child maltreatment history, emotion regulation strategies, and depressive symptoms. The PROCESS SPSS Macro 3.3, [Model 4, 86] was used to simultaneous test direct and indirect effects on depressive symptoms. Models were run by generating bias-corrected bootstrapped effect with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The indirect path (child maltreatment \u0026loz; dampening/ positive rumination \u0026loz; depressive symptom levels) is interpreted as statistically significant if the CI does not include zero, indicating that dampening and/or positive rumination serve as intervening variables that explain variance in the association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eData Preparation\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSome survey item-level data was missing (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.01%). To justify data imputation via maximum likelihood estimation, we examined if data were missing at random [87]. Little\u0026rsquo;s missing completely at random test was non-significant, χ\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e(428)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;435.324, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.394, supporting the imputation of missing values [88]. Next, we explored whether variables displayed significant skewness, which could compromise results. Transformations were applied to depressive symptoms (square root), dampening (log) and child maltreatment (inverse) to meet assumptions of normality. To ensure that results could not be attributed to suppressor effects, we display bivariate correlations in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBivariate Associations\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"11\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c11\" colnum=\"11\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRaw\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTransformed\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariables\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Child Maltreatment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.07\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Positive Rumination\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.05\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e24.46\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 Dampening\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.31***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.04\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.38\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Brooding Rumination\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.31***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.53***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.43\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Depressive Symptoms\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.37***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.60***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.62***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.34\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.81\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: raw scores are presented for clarity\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eH1: Is child maltreatment history associated with positive rumination and dampening of positive affect?\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur first hypothesis was only partially supported. Women who reported a greater history of child maltreatment were significantly more likely to dampen positive affect (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.31, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001). Consistent with prior research, dampening was associated with higher current depressive symptom levels (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.60, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001). In contrast, positive rumination was not associated with child maltreatment severity (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = -0.05, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026thinsp;=\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;.582) nor current depressive symptom levels (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = -0.11, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026thinsp;=\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;.238). Thus, the role of positive rumination could not be explored further in other hypotheses.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eH2: Does dampening account for the link between child maltreatment history and women\u0026rsquo;s current depressive symptom levels?\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe continued to test if dampening accounted for the association between child maltreatment history and higher current depressive symptoms levels. Model results are displayed in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003eA. Child maltreatment history accounted for 14% of the variance in depressive symptom levels. With the addition of dampening as a predictor, the model explained substantially more variance (R\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003e=\u0026thinsp;.\u003c/em\u003e40, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;.001) in depressive symptom levels. Both child maltreatment, \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(120)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.67, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.009, \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.20, and dampening, \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(120)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;7.17, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001, \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.54, continued to be associated with higher depressive symptom levels. The indirect path (child maltreatment\u0026loz; dampening\u0026loz; depressive symptoms) was significant: αβ\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.17, (95% CI: 0.07\u0026ndash;0.26). Since the direct effect of child maltreatment remained significant, this pattern indicates that dampening only partially accounted for the association between child maltreatment and women\u0026rsquo;s current depressive symptom levels.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eH3: Does dampening continue to account for unique variance after covarying the indirect effect of rumination between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels?\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTo determine if dampening accounted for \u003cem\u003eunique\u003c/em\u003e variance in women\u0026rsquo;s depressive symptoms the model was re-run with rumination and dampening as simultaneous predictors. Results are displayed in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003eB. This model explained half the variance, R\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003e=\u0026thinsp;.\u003c/em\u003e50, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;.001) in depressive symptom levels. Both rumination, \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(119)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;5.00, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001, \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.39, and dampening, \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(119)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4.53, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001, \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.35, were associated with higher current depressive symptom levels. The indirect effect of dampening between child maltreatment and depressive symptom levels remained significant, αβ\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.11, (95% CI: 0.04\u0026ndash;0.19), even with the significant indirect effect of rumination, δε\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.12, (95% CI: 0.05\u0026ndash;0.20). With both dampening and rumination in the model, the direct association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels was no longer statistically significant, \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(119)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.97, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.051, \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.14. This pattern suggests that dampening and rumination account for the association between child maltreatment and higher current depressive symptom levels.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eDeficits in emotion regulation reflect one mechanism by which child maltreatment increases risk for psychopathology such as depression across the lifespan. The goal of the current study was to extend current research on modifiable, emotion regulation strategies of positive affect that may be implicated in the link between child maltreatment severity and depression risk among emerging adult women. We found that child maltreatment severity was associated with a tendency to dampen positive affect but not linked with positive rumination. Further, we found that dampening partially explained the association between child maltreatment severity and current depressive symptom levels. Results provide initial support for the role of dampening positive affect on the link between child maltreatment history and adult women\u0026rsquo;s heightened depression risk.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTo our knowledge the current study is one of the first to assess the link between child maltreatment severity and a greater tendency to dampen positive moods and reactions. The pattern of findings replicates and extends one prior study conducted among individuals with trauma history [49]. We found that women with higher child maltreatment severity tend to dampen their reactions to positive moods and events more than women with lower (or absent) child maltreatment history. The association between child maltreatment history and dampening of positive affect and reactions converges with research suggesting that individuals with a history of child maltreatment tend to not to be motivated by rewards [61], and may even experience discomfort or shame during positive experiences [66]. Child maltreatment history has long been associated with maladaptive emotion regulation strategies such as emotional suppression of negative affect [78]. The current results suggest that women with a greater history of childhood maltreatment also suppress their experiences of positive affect. Consistent, voluntary suppression of positive affect in-the-moment may explain why individuals with child maltreatment history report higher levels of anhedonia in their daily lives [37, 38, 40, 41].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe found partial support for our hypothesis that dampening would explain the association between child maltreatment history and women\u0026rsquo;s current depressive symptom levels. Dampening served as a significant intervening variable, accounting for some of the variance in the association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptom levels. With the addition of brooding rumination in the model though, both maladaptive emotion regulation strategies-maintained significance as intervening variables, \u003cem\u003eand\u003c/em\u003e the association between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms was fully explained. This model is exciting for multiple reasons. Brooding rumination is a strong, established risk factor for depression among both children and adults [73], as well as a mechanism of risk between child maltreatment and depression [78]. Therefore, the current results support the robustness of the effect of dampening, with emotional suppression of positive affect explaining unique variance in the link between child maltreatment history and young women\u0026rsquo;s current depressive symptoms, after controlling for brooding rumination. Additionally, our results are consistent with an initial study demonstrating dampening accounted for the association between child maltreatment severity and current PTSD symptoms [49]. Thus, dampening may reflect a newly identified mechanism of risk between child maltreatment and psychopathology risk (serving a similar, independent function as ineffective emotion regulation of negative affect). That said, cross-sectional data limits our capacity to interpret directional effects between child maltreatment, dampening, and depression risk. It is also possible that women currently struggling with depressive symptoms have a higher tendency to dampen positive affect, and history of child maltreatment identifies which individuals engage in dampening among dysphoric adults. Given that dampening is a risk factor for depression that maintains and exacerbates depressive symptoms [42\u0026ndash;44], identifying which clients dampen still has important treatment implications.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinding that positive rumination was not associated with young women\u0026rsquo;s depression risk, or child maltreatment history contributes to a literature on the mixed support on the role of this regulation strategy. The lack of association between positive rumination and depressive symptoms contrasts prior research supporting an association between positive rumination and depression risk [42, 47, 50]. Our failing to find an association between positive rumination and child maltreatment aligns with the one other study to examine this association [49], and other research indicating positive rumination is not linked with PTSD risk [47, 49, 52]. Taken together, research to date suggests that positive rumination may not be a regulation strategy implicated in the link between child maltreatment and associated distress. However, the inconsistency across studies may also suggests future research that examines potential moderators will account for current discrepancies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe current results converge with ongoing research supporting the role of alterations in emotion regulation of both positive and negative affect among individuals with a history of child maltreatment and offer multiple theoretical implications. Finding that rumination and dampening each served as intervening variables between child maltreatment and current depressive symptoms aligns with research supporting that the combination of alterations in responding to positive and negative experiences among individuals with child maltreatment history is especially caustic for increasing vulnerability to psychopathology [61]. Substantial research supports that individuals with a history of child maltreatment display deficits in reward sensitivity coinciding with alterations in neural activation [8, 27, 30, 31]. One possibility of the current results is that the blunted emotional responses displayed to positive stimuli may be at least partially driven by the voluntary regulation strategy to intentionally suppress the emotional responses to positive stimuli, rather than reflecting a fixed neurobiological scar of trauma history. Additionally, individuals with trauma histories also display deficits in their long-term memory of positive events [67, 69], and long term memory deficits are implicated in depression risk [89, 90]. Thus, another possibility is that dampening may contribute to the impairments seen in individuals with maltreatment history inability to consolidate positive experiences into their autobiographical memory. Future, longitudinal research is necessary to support the potential role of dampening as a risk factor in both potential implications. Taken together, finding that dampening explains unique variance between child maltreatment and women\u0026rsquo;s depressive symptoms aligns with prior models on the role of emotional suppression in fostering risk in this vulnerable population. Results may also suggest exciting directions for future research such as exploring whether dampening, as a voluntary emotion regulation strategy, contributes to the alterations in reward sensitivity, long-term memory, and higher levels of anhedonia displayed in individuals with a history of child maltreatment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe current cross-sectional data still has clinical implications for clinicians working with depressed clients. In the current sample, among dysphoric clients, those with a history of child maltreatment were the most likely to engage in dampening. Since dampening has been found to maintain and exacerbate depressive symptoms [42\u0026ndash;44], the current results emphasize the utility of assessing in child maltreatment history when working with depressed women. As a modifiable, voluntary emotion regulation strategy, dampening may be targeted in treatment through various strategies. Engaging in an emotion regulation strategy that is mutually exclusive to dampening is one avenue. Savoring reflects the tendency to attend to, focus on, recall \u003cem\u003eand\u003c/em\u003e anticipate positive moods and events [91]. Savoring is an effective way to amplify positive affect in the short-term [92], and increases happiness over time, in day to day living [93] and lowers depressive symptoms over time [94]. Savoring is not limited to current positive experiences, which perhaps is a defining difference from positive rumination. Savoring, which can include reminiscing and anticipating past and future experiences improves positive affective functioning even in the absence of or experiencing fewer daily positive events [95]. However, an important first step will be to explore with clients their reasons for dampening. Individuals with child maltreatment history may feel they are unworthy of positive experiences and may even experience simultaneous discomfort in response to positive affect and events [66]. Thus, introducing savoring with clients with child maltreatment history may best be approached via an exposure model, allowing clients to first habituate to their distress around positive affect, memories and/or stimuli in-session with the guidance of a clinician, before expecting clients to be able to successfully implement this emotion regulation strategy in their daily lives. In summary, results bear clinical implications for strengthening emotion regulation of positive affect among dysphoric women. Future, longitudinal research will reveal whether targeting dampening in prevention efforts among individuals with child maltreatment history is warranted.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSeveral limitations of the current study must be acknowledged. Foremost, the cross-sectional data makes it impossible to explore directional effects between child maltreatment, dampening and depressive symptoms. Future, longitudinal research is warranted. Additionally, our assessment of child maltreatment was limited to retrospective report, which has inherent limitations, including memory deficits and mood bias. Further, very little diversity in the current sample (including ethnic/racial, sexual orientation and/or gender diversity). Since marginalized communities also experience dehumanizing microaggressions chronically, on a frequent, daily basis [96, 97], it would be inappropriate to generalize results beyond white, middle class, cisgender, heterosexual women. Therefore, further research is needed to understand the role of emotion regulation strategies on child maltreatment history among marginalized groups, especially given the strong links between racial discrimination, transphobia and homophobia on vulnerability to depression [98\u0026ndash;100]. The effects of discrimination may also emerge during childhood/adolescence [101] and tend to be more pronounced for BIPOC girls [102]. Thus, we encourage further research to explore the function of emotion regulation strategies, such as dampening, between the experiences of marginalization and child maltreatment and risk for depression.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn summary, the current results highlight the need for clarifying the function of positive emotion regulation strategies among individuals with child maltreatment history. Findings support specificity in which positive emotion regulation strategies account for depression risk among this vulnerable population (only dampening, not positive rumination). Further, finding that incorporation of both positive and negative emotion regulation strategies, brooding rumination and dampening of positive affect, was the strongest model that accounted for the variance in explaining the link between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms aligns with literature supporting that impairments in both positive and negative affective functioning are implicated in how child maltreatment fosters risk for psychopathology across the lifespan. Future, longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the role of positive emotion regulation strategies in risk and resilience models of psychopathology among individuals who have experienced child maltreatment.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Abbreviations","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"DefinitionList\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"DefinitionListEntry\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Term\"\u003eMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD)\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Description\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"DefinitionListEntry\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Term\"\u003ePost\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Description\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthics approval and consent to participate:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThis research was approved by Christopher Newport University. All methods were performed in accordance with the Institutional Review Board guidelines and regulations. At the outset of the assessment, informed consent was obtained in writing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent for publication:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailability of Data and materials statement:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available due to ongoing analyses but are available from the corresponding author, L. Stone, upon reasonable request.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCompeting Interests:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe authors have no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest to declare.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding: NA:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThis study was not funded by external sponsors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthors\u0026rsquo; contributions:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eLS developed the study design and oversaw data collection and analyses. Both authors contributed to the literature review and manuscript writing. \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eWe appreciate the strong contributions of the Relationships in Adolescent Development (RAD) Laboratory staff for their assistance with data collection. We also wish to acknowledge the time investment and emotional labor of our participants in sharing their personal experiences with us through surveys.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmerican Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC2022.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorld Health Organization. Preventing child maltreatment: A guide to taking action and generating evidence. 2006 [Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/preventing-child-maltreatment-a-guide-to-taking-action-and-generating-evidence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKovler ML, Ziegfeld S, Ryan LM, Goldstein MA, Gardner R, Garcia AV, et al. Increased proportion of physical child abuse injuries at a level I pediatric trauma center during the Covid-19 pandemic. Child abuse \u0026amp; neglect. 2021;116:104756.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eU.S. Department of Health \u0026amp; Human Services; Administration for Children and Families; Administration on Children Youth and Families; Children\u0026rsquo;s Bureau. Child Maltreatment 2022 2024 [Available from: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/data-research/child-maltreatment.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStoltenborgh M, Bakermans‐Kranenburg MJ, Alink LRA, van IJzendoorn MH. The prevalence of child maltreatment across the globe: Review of a series of meta‐analyses. Child Abuse Review. 2015;24(1):37-50.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMacMillan HL, Fleming JE, Streiner DL, Lin E, Boyle MH, Jamieson E, et al. Childhood Abuse and Lifetime Psychopathology in a Community Sample. Am J Psychiatry. 2001;158(11):1878-83.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKessler RC, McLaughlin KA, Green JG, Gruber MJ, Sampson NA, Zaslavsky AM, et al. Childhood adversities and adult psychopathology in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. 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Developmental Psychology. 2014;50(4):1190.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-psychology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"psyo","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Psychology](http://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"BMC Psychology","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Child maltreatment, depression, dampening, positive rumination, emotion regulation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5328157/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5328157/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eChild maltreatment exerts lasting effects on emotion regulation, which in turn accounts for adult\u0026rsquo;s risk for psychopathology such as depression. Child maltreatment is associated with impairments in reward sensitivity (responding to positive stimuli in-the-moment) as well as chronic anhedonia, lack of positive moods and pleasure to environmental stimuli. To date though, emotion regulation strategies that account for these deficits in positive moods and responses is limited. We examined the role of positive rumination and dampening of positive affect, both voluntary emotion regulation strategies. We hypothesized that alterations in positive rumination and dampening would explain the association between women\u0026rsquo;s history of child maltreatment and risk for current depressive symptoms. Given that child maltreatment also impairs emotion regulation of negative affect, we also explored the unique effects of positive affective strategies after controlling for dysphoric rumination.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eUndergraduate women (\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;122) completed surveys on child maltreatment, depressive symptoms, and their tendency to dampen or engage in positive rumination in response to positive affect, reflecting cross-sectional data. The PROCESS macro, model 4 was run in SPSS to examine the extent to which emotion regulation strategies accounted for the association between child maltreatment history and current depressive symptoms.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eChild maltreatment history was associated with a higher tendency to dampen positive affect but was not linked with positive rumination. Dampening partially explained the link between child maltreatment and women\u0026rsquo;s current depressive symptoms. Dampening continued to account for unique variance in the association between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.13) after including rumination in the model.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults suggests that emotion suppression strategies among child maltreatment survivors may also extend to positive affect, and specificity in regulation strategies are altered. Currently dysphoric women with a history of child maltreatment tend to dampen their positive moods and reactions to events, which has immediate treatment implications for this population. Future, longitudinal research is warranted to clarify the role of alterations in positive emotion regulations strategies in understanding how child maltreatment fosters risk for psychopathology such as depression.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Dampening of positive affect partially accounts for the association between women’s reported history of child maltreatment and current depressive symptoms","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-11-19 14:18:19","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5328157/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-11-05T11:41:57+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-10-29T06:37:14+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-10-29T06:31:44+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Psychology","date":"2024-10-24T19:55:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-psychology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"psyo","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Psychology](http://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"BMC Psychology","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2cb9a97f-1be3-4f4a-85d7-14077573f5cb","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 19th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-03-03T16:00:20+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-5328157","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02503-8","journal":{"identity":"bmc-psychology","isVorOnly":false,"title":"BMC Psychology"},"publishedOn":"2025-02-28 15:57:13","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 28th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-11-19 14:18:19","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s40359-025-02503-8","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02503-8","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5328157","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5328157","identity":"rs-5328157","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}