Date of Award

12-2020

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Anne Ellison

Second Advisor

Jane Stafford

Third Advisor

Laura Swain

Abstract

Objective: The influence of childhood trauma has been found to be related to difficulties in emotion regulation and distress tolerance in young adulthood (Berenz et al., 2018a, 2018b). Research has shown that childhood abuse and adversities such as neglect or emotional abuse results in impaired processes related to the development of emotion regulation and efficient interpersonal skills, while also resulting in symptoms reflecting disordered affective self-regulation (Cloitre et al., 2009; Shipman, Edwards, Brown, Swisher, & Jennings, 2005; Shipman, Zeman, Penza, & Champion, 2000). Research has examined emotional regulation and distress tolerance in the context of childhood trauma but has not extensively focused on these aspects in the context of childhood complex trauma specifically and the result of this in college students (Berenz et al., 2018a; Berenz et al., 2018b; Wright, Crawford, & Castillo, 2009). Thus, I examined the impact of childhood complex trauma experiences on emotion regulation and distress tolerance functioning in college students. Specifically, I examined the association between complex trauma in childhood, difficulties in emotion regulation and distress tolerance, and physiological arousal following exposure to an experimental task designed to elicit traumatic childhood memories.

Method: In the present study, participants (n = 39) completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), and the Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire (TLEQ), while also engaging in a writing task that asked participants to recall and write about their most traumatic experience in childhood and adolescence. During the writing task, participants’ (n = 32) electrodermal activity was recorded in the form of galvanic skin response using Biopac MP36R. I predicted that there would be a significant positive correlation between difficulties in emotion regulation and number of complex trauma experiences and a significant positive correlation between distress tolerance and number of complex trauma experiences. I also predicted that difficulties in emotion regulation and increased distress tolerance would significantly predict childhood complex trauma experiences. Lastly, I predicted that difficulties in emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and complex trauma experiences would significantly predict mean amplitude arousal during a writing task.

Results: Analyses indicated a significant positive correlation between difficulties in emotion regulation and number of complex trauma experiences and a significant positive correlation between distress tolerance and number of complex trauma experiences. Results also indicated that complex trauma experiences in childhood was a significant coefficient predictor of emotion regulation and distress tolerance in later, young-adult functioning. Lastly, analyses indicated that difficulties in emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and complex trauma experiences in childhood were not significant predictors of mean amplitude EDA arousal during a writing task in which participants were asked to recall and write about their most traumatic memory in childhood and adolescence.

Conclusion: This study provides evidence that difficulties in emotion regulation and increased perceived distress tolerance are associated with experiences of early childhood trauma; and, experiences of complex childhood trauma significantly predicts later emotional functioning and the ability to tolerate distressing emotions. Perceived distress tolerance, childhood complex trauma experiences, and difficulties in emotion regulation were not related to increased psychophysiological activity. Future research should attempt to focus on gathering a larger sample sizes as well as gathering data from a population with more clinical experiences of trauma, while also using a trauma assessment measure that is more tailored to evaluating “complex” trauma experiences. Future research should also continue to investigate the impact of emotional and distress tolerance functioning on psychophysiological

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