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Childhood maltreatment is a potent interpersonal trauma associated with dysregulation of emotional processes relevant to the development of psychopathology. The current study identified prospective links between patterns of maltreatment exposures and dimensions of emotion regulation in emerging adulthood. Participants included 427 individuals (48% Male; 75.9% Black, 10.8% White, 7.5% Hispanic, 6% Other) assessed at two waves. At Wave 1, children (10–12 years) from families eligible for public assistance with and without involvement with Child Protective Services took part in a research summer camp. Patterns of child maltreatment subtype and chronicity (based on coded CPS record data) were used to predict Wave 2 (age 18–24 years) profiles of emotion regulation based on self-report, and affective processing assessed via the Affective Go/No-Go task. Results identified associations between task-based affective processing and self-reported emotion regulation profiles. Further, chronic, multi-subtype childhood maltreatment exposure predicted difficulties with aggregated emotion dysregulation. Exposure to neglect with and without other maltreatment subtypes predicted lower sensitivity to affective words. Nuanced results distinguish multiple patterns of emotion regulation in a sample of emerging adults with high exposure to trauma and socioeconomic stress and suggest that maltreatment disrupts emotional development, resulting in difficulties identifying emotions and coping with emotional distress.

Dante Cicchetti’s remarkable contributions to the field of developmental psychopathology include the advancement of key principles such as the interplay of typical and atypical development, multifinality and equifinality, the dynamic processes of resilience, and the integration of multiple levels of analysis into developmental theories. In this paper we assert that person-centered data analytic methods are particularly well-suited to advancing these tenets of developmental psychopathology. We illustrate their utility with a brief novel empirical study focused on underlying patterns of childhood neuroendocrine regulation and prospective links with emerging adult functioning. Results indicate that a childhood neuroendocrine profile marked by high diurnal cortisol paired with low diurnal DHEA was uniquely associated with more adaptive functioning in emerging adulthood. We discuss these findings, and person-centered methods more broadly, within the future of developmental psychopathology.

Child maltreatment is a robust risk factor for suicidal ideation and behaviors during adolescence. Elevations in internalizing and externalizing symptomology have been identified as two distinct developmental pathways linking child maltreatment and adolescent risk for suicide. However, recent research suggests that the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing symptomology may form a distinct etiological pathway for adolescent risk behaviors. Using the Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) sample (N = 1,314), the present study employed a person-centered approach to identify patterns of concurrent change in internalizing and externalizing psychopathology over five time points from early childhood to adolescence in relation to previous experiences of child maltreatment and subsequent suicidal ideation and behaviors. Results indicated four distinct bivariate externalizing and internalizing growth trajectories. Group membership in a heightened comorbid internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectory mediated the association between childhood abuse and adolescent suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors. These findings suggest that the concurrent development of externalizing and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence may constitute a unique developmental trajectory that confers risk for suicide-related outcomes.

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with a wide range of negative health, behavioral, and developmental outcomes across the lifespan. However, many individuals demonstrate resilience, and protective factors play a critical role in buffering the effects of adversity. Yet most existing ACE measures overlook these protective experiences and rely primarily on retrospective adult self-reports. To address this gap, we developed the Child and Family Experiences Survey (CAFES), a caregiver-report tool designed to assess both adverse and protective experiences in early childhood across diverse settings. Methods Caregivers ( N  = 157) from two counties in New York State completed the CAFES, which assessed adverse experiences, protective factors, and social determinants of health items. Summary scores were calculated for both adverse and protective experiences. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and principal components analysis (PCA) were conducted to evaluate item performance and inform item reduction. Results Descriptive analyses showed a range of endorsement across items related to adverse experiences, protective factors, and social determinants of health items. Correlations within protective and adverse experience items were moderate, supporting internal consistency. PCA was conducted for protective factors and social determinants of health items, and a four-component solution emerged for each. The CAFES was refined based on results from descriptive findings and the PCA. Conclusions The CAFES is a novel, caregiver-report tool designed to assess both adverse and protective childhood experiences, as well as family needs. Developed through a community-engaged process, CAFES addresses key limitations in existing ACE measures by incorporating protective factors and offering applicability across clinical, educational, and research settings. Future efforts will focus on refining the tool through qualitative feedback, improving data collection processes, and ensuring cross-cultural relevance, for example among underrepresented and immigrant populations, while also integrating appropriate supports to enhance its clinical implementation.

Experiences of child abuse and neglect are risk factors for youth suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Accordingly, suicide risk may emerge as a developmental process that is heavily influenced by the rearing environment. We argue that a developmental, theoretical framework is needed to guide future research on child maltreatment and youth (i.e., adolescent and emerging adult) suicide, and to subsequently inform suicide prevention efforts. We propose a developmental model that integrates principles of developmental psychopathology and current theories of suicide to explain the association between child maltreatment and youth suicide risk. This model bears significant implications for future research on child maltreatment and youth suicide risk, and for suicide prevention efforts that target youth with child maltreatment experiences.

Person-centered methods represent an important advance in the simultaneous examination of multiple indicators of neuroendocrine functioning and may facilitate a more nuanced understanding of the impact of child maltreatment on hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dysregulation. The aims of the present study were threefold: (a) identify naturally occurring patterns of diurnal cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) regulation among a sample of N = 1,258 children with and without histories of maltreatment, (b) investigate which neuroendocrine profiles characterize children with exposure to maltreatment, and (c) examine which profiles are related to adaptive outcomes and symptomatology among children. Cortisol and DHEA were sampled three times per day (9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 4 p.m.) across 5 and 2 days, respectively. Four profiles of cortisol and DHEA regulation were identified. Among females, a pattern marked by high cortisol and low DHEA was associated with more pervasive maltreatment experiences. Furthermore, we found evidence of adaptive interpersonal resilience such that children with maltreatment exposure who evidenced this pattern of high cortisol and low DHEA were viewed as more likeable than maltreated children with other neuroendocrine patterns. Finally, results pointed to higher levels of internalizing symptoms among children who displayed a profile marked by average cortisol and high DHEA.

Abstract Betrayal trauma is associated with dissociative symptoms, which can increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Previous research demonstrates associations between a mother’s history of betrayal trauma and intergenerational patterns of maltreatment and dissociation among their children. However, maternal betrayal trauma history remains unexplored in the etiology of youth suicidality. This study was conducted to investigate pathways between maternal betrayal trauma and youth suicidality, while considering the influences of youth maltreatment exposure and symptoms of dissociation. We implemented conditional growth curve modeling in a structural equation modeling framework to analyze secondary data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN; N = 1,354; 51.48% female, 53.29% Black). Predictors included mothers’ betrayal trauma history, youth maltreatment exposure, and youth dissociative symptoms at ages 8, 12, and 16. The slope and intercept of dissociative symptoms at the age-8, age-12, and age-16 visit were modeled as latent factors. A robust weighted least squares estimator accounted for categorical outcomes. Indirect effects were assessed via the delta method. We found a significant indirect effect from maternal betrayal trauma to adolescent suicidal ideation through children’s maltreatment exposure and the growth in children’s dissociative symptoms from ages 8 through 16. Maternal betrayal trauma may play a unique role in perpetuating intergenerational patterns of trauma that contribute to subsequent trajectories of youth suicidality among their offspring. Practice implications for screening, prevention, and early intervention strategies are described, along with directions for further study.

Youth who are raised in emotionally abusive families are more likely to have poor mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety. However, the mechanisms of this association are unclear. The present study utilized a longitudinal sample of low-SES youth (N = 101, MageT1 = 10.24) to examine stress response reactivity (i.e. vagal withdrawal, sympathetic activation, and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal [HPA] axis activation) as mediators between emotional abuse and prospective youth internalizing symptoms. Results indicated that blunted HPA reactivity to a laboratory social stress task mediated the association between emotional abuse and youth internalizing symptoms. Emotional abuse was also associated with blunted parasympathetic nervous system activity (i.e. less vagal withdrawal than average). In sum, emotional abuse is a potent risk factor for youth internalizing symptoms, and this link may be mediated via dysregulation in physiological stress response systems. Primary prevention of childhood emotional abuse and secondary prevention programs that target self-regulation skills may reduce rates of youth internalizing symptoms and disorders.

Parents with childhood maltreatment histories are at risk for emotion regulation (ER) problems, which are associated with reduced self-regulation among their offspring. However, gaps remain in the literature regarding this indirect transmission pathway. First, ER consists of multiple dimensions and it is unclear which dimension is most affected by childhood maltreatment. Second, less is known regarding which parental ER dimension is linked to offspring self-regulation. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the direct and indirect associations between parental maltreatment histories and child self-regulatory capacity via dimensions of parental ER. In this cross-sectional study, 101 youth (75% African American/Black; 53% female; Mage = 10.28; SD = 1.19) and their primary caregivers were recruited from a low-income community in the Southeastern United States. Structural equation modeling was used to model the effect of parents’ self-reported childhood maltreatment on youth physiological self-regulation (measured by heart rate variability reactivity [HRV-R]), via parents’ self-reported ER. Parental maltreatment history was significantly associated with five of the six components of ER. Further, the indirect effect of parents’ childhood maltreatment on child HRV-R was significant when parents reported more difficulty engaging goal-directed behaviors. Moderation analyses by sex showed that daughters had greater dysregulation regardless of parental maltreatment histories, while parents’ ER was found to play a more significant role in the intergenerational transmission of dysregulation to sons. The current study extends the literature on self-regulation development in children of low-income, maltreatment-exposed parents. Our study may inform parent-child interventions for improving self-regulation.

Childhood neglect is associated with risk behaviors in adolescence, including substance use. There is evidence that internalizing behaviors may serve as a mechanism linking childhood neglect and substance use; however, further research is needed to examine this developmental pathway. According to developmental and ecological approaches, the neighborhood context and the developmental timing of maltreatment should both be considered when examining the sequelae of childhood neglect. Hence, the present study uses a longitudinal sample of youth (N = 965, 49.1% female, 59.2% African-American) to examine the influence of timing in the relationship between childhood neglect and adolescent psychopathology, and to examine the indirect effects of child neglect on substance use via internalizing symptoms in adolescence. Furthermore, the role of neighborhood disorder in this indirect effect was tested. Five data collection time points were used: Time 1( M age  = 4.557, SD age  = .701), Time 2 ( M age  = 6.422, SD age  = .518), Time 3 ( M age  = 12.370, SD age  = .443), Time 4 ( M age  = 14.359, SD age  = .452), and Time 5 ( M age  = 16.316, SD age  = .615). The findings showed that internalizing problems mediated the link between the severity of neglect in early childhood and adolescent substance use, and this pathway was moderated by neighborhood disorder. These results have implications for preventative interventions aimed toward reducing substance use for at-risk adolescents.