“Childhood threat vs deprivation adversity; Impact of executive function, affective processing, and “real time” regulatory strategies on mental health symptoms “
The Initiative on Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR)
This is a 12-year longitudinal study focused on examining the impact of childhood maltreatment (e.g., sexual/physical abuse, and/or neglect) and other adversities (e.g., witnessing domestic violence, community violence, trauma, stressors associated with poverty) on cognitive mechanisms and mental health outcomes among adolescents (15-17 years old). Specifically, we test the role of early life adversity, cognitive control, and attentional biases as underlying repetitive negative thinking (RNT), a transdiagnostic risk factor for both internalizing and externalizing problems. There are no studies that examine the role of RNT as it unfolds in vivo among adolescents with exposure to childhood adversity. This is a critical missed clinical opportunity because RNT may serve as a proximal malleable antecedent to a broad range of mental health problems. This study is currently in the field. We present a project status update and preliminary findings.
This project was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM139767 with research project CVL. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.