Betrayal Trauma in Youth and Negative Communication During a Stressful Task

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Trauma Studies

Background:

• Emotion regulation skills develop within secure child-caregiver relationships.
• Betrayal trauma can disrupt the development of emotion regulation, leading to relational issues.
• Attachment theory highlights the importance of secure bonds for emotional development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between betrayal trauma history, communication during stress, and emotion regulation difficulties in adolescents.
• To investigate how communication styles in a stressful task relate to trauma exposure.
• To understand the mediating role of emotion regulation in the link between betrayal trauma and communication.

Main Methods:

• Recruited trauma-exposed adolescents for a laboratory study.
• Assessed betrayal trauma history and emotion regulation difficulties.
• Analyzed communication behaviors during a stressful interpersonal task with mothers.

Main Results:

• Adolescents with betrayal trauma history reported higher emotion regulation difficulties.
• Betrayal trauma was associated with more aggressive and fewer positive communication behaviors with mothers.
• Emotion regulation difficulties mediated the association between betrayal trauma history and negative communication.

Conclusions:

• Betrayal trauma significantly impacts adolescent emotion regulation and communication.
• Interventions targeting emotion regulation may improve relational outcomes for trauma-exposed youth.
• Findings underscore the developmental impact of relational trauma on emotional and social functioning.