Project 1: Childhood threat vs deprivation adversity: Impact of executive function, affective processing, and "real time" regulatory strategies on mental health symptoms

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PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT COBRE Research Project 1 will enable Project Leader Vergara-Lopez to collect pilot data in support of a competitive R01 application investigating distinct “pathways” by which childhood adversity impacts emerging adult mental health. Childhood maltreatment is highly prevalent and predicts a broad range of mental health problems. Models from neuroscience suggest that distinct forms of maltreatment have different “developmental cascades” towards the emergence of mental health problems. Experiences of maltreatment characterized by deprivation (an absence of expected cognitive and social inputs from the environment) are thought to be particularly relevant in the development of “top-down” emotion regulation systems (i.e., executive functioning); whereas experiences of maltreatment characterized by threat (physical or psychological harm or threat of harm) are thought to be particularly relevant in the development of “bottom-up” emotion regulation systems (i.e., reinforcement sensitivity, associative memory, attentional bias). Yet no studies have examined the downstream effects of deprivation and threat assessed in “real-time,” nor have any studies comprehensively examined these effects in relation to mental health symptoms in young adulthood. This project will provide the first comprehensive test of the differential effects of deprivation and threat and examine links to real-world emotion regulation and mental health. A sample of emerging adults (ages 18-25) varying in level of exposure to childhood maltreatment (n=150; 50% female) will be recruited. Participants will complete a baseline laboratory session assessing “top-down” and “bottom-up” processes and mental health symptoms. “Top-down” and “bottom up” processes will be assessed by a state-of-the-field battery of laboratory tasks including assessment of multiple components of executive functioning (that differentiate between cognitive abilities in the presence vs absence of emotional information), individual differences in reaction time contingent on reward and punishment, a novel self-referential Single-Category Implicit Association Test (that indexes both positive and negative self-referential memory), and a free-viewing eye tracking paradigm capturing orientation and duration of attention to threat. Leveraging Ilumivu technology from the Technology, Assessment, Data, and Analysis (TADA) Core, participants will then complete a 30-day Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocol assessing “real-time” emotion regulation strategies (repetitive negative thinking and reappraisal) and hallmark mental health symptoms. A final laboratory session will re-assess a full spectrum of mental health functioning. Results from this study will reveal downstream effects of childhood maltreatment on emotion regulation (as it unfolds in daily life) and mental health outcomes. This study has the potential to elucidate distinct and clinically relevant etiological pathways by which adversity impacts mental health, and can inform a new wave of etiologically tailored interventions that can be deployed using technology.