Hautle Lara-Lynn, Kurath Jennifer, Jellestad Lena, Lüönd Antonia M, Wingenbach Tanja S H, Frühholz Sascha, Jansson Billy, Niedtfeld Inga, Pfaltz Monique C
Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Medical Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2023 May 21;10(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s40479-023-00222-3.
Individuals with a history of child maltreatment (CM) are more often disliked, rejected and victimized compared to individuals without such experiences. However, contributing factors for these negative evaluations are so far unknown.
Based on previous research on adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD), this preregistered study assessed whether negative evaluations of adults with CM experiences, in comparison to unexposed controls, are mediated by more negative and less positive facial affect display. Additionally, it was explored whether level of depression, severity of CM, social anxiety, social support, and rejection sensitivity have an influence on ratings.
Forty adults with CM experiences (CM +) and 40 non-maltreated (CM-) adults were filmed for measurement of affect display and rated in likeability, trustworthiness, and cooperativeness by 100 independent raters after zero-acquaintance (no interaction) and 17 raters after first-acquaintance (short conversation).
The CM + and the CM- group were neither evaluated significantly different, nor showed significant differences in affect display. Contrasting previous research, higher levels of BPD symptoms predicted higher likeability ratings (p = .046), while complex post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms had no influence on ratings.
The non-significant effects could be attributed to an insufficient number of participants, as our sample size allowed us to detect effects with medium effect sizes (f = .16 for evaluation; f = .17 for affect display) with a power of .95. Moreover, aspects such as the presence of mental disorders (e.g., BPD or post-traumatic stress disorder), might have a stronger impact than CM per se. Future research should thus further explore conditions (e.g., presence of specific mental disorders) under which individuals with CM are affected by negative evaluations as well as factors that contribute to negative evaluations and problems in social relationships.
与没有儿童期受虐待（CM）经历的个体相比，有CM经历的个体更常被厌恶、排斥和伤害。然而，这些负面评价的促成因素目前尚不清楚。
基于先前对边缘型人格障碍（BPD）成人的研究，这项预先注册的研究评估了与未受影响的对照组相比，有CM经历的成人的负面评价是否由更多负面和更少正面的面部表情显示介导。此外，还探讨了抑郁水平、CM严重程度、社交焦虑、社会支持和拒绝敏感性是否对评分有影响。
对40名有CM经历的成人（CM+）和40名未受虐待的成人（CM-）进行拍摄以测量表情显示，并在零接触（无互动）后由100名独立评分者对其可爱程度、可信赖程度和合作程度进行评分，在初次接触（简短对话）后由17名评分者进行评分。
CM+组和CM-组在评价上均无显著差异，表情显示也无显著差异。与先前的研究相反，较高水平的BPD症状预测了较高的可爱程度评分（p = 0.046），而复杂创伤后应激障碍症状对评分没有影响。
这些不显著的结果可能归因于参与者数量不足，因为我们的样本量使我们能够以0.95的检验效能检测中等效应量的效应（评价的f = 0.16；表情显示的f = 0.17）。此外，精神障碍（如BPD或创伤后应激障碍）等因素可能比CM本身有更强的影响。因此，未来的研究应进一步探索有CM经历的个体受到负面评价影响的条件（如特定精神障碍的存在）以及导致负面评价和社会关系问题的因素。
