Early Developmental Wounds to Interpersonal Struggles: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation
Faculty Mentor
Sara Haden
Major/Area of Research
Psychology
Description
INTRODUCTION: Early trauma and its effects on adult life have been studied extensively in the field of psychology. In the US, around 15% to 43% of girls and 14% to 43% of boys have experienced at least one type of trauma (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,2025). Childhood trauma has severe effects on a person’s ability to regulate emotions and can cause difficulties with interpersonal relationships (Yöyen & Bozaci, 2023). This study focused on the effects of trauma on emotion dysregulation and interpersonal relationships. Specifically, the project focused on whether the developmental periods when trauma occurred – 1) Childhood (up to 12 years), 2) adolescence (13-17 years), and 3) adulthood (18+ years), and how they are differentially related to these outcomes. It was expected that trauma would be related to more interpersonal difficulties due to increases in emotion dysregulation. This relationship was expected to be more pronounced when trauma occurred during childhood.
METHOD: 201 participants between the ages of 18 to 51 years were recruited for this study (M = 20.35 years). 167 participants were female (83%), and 32 were male (16%). Participants had diverse ethnicities with 26% Asian (52), 20.5% African (41), 14.5% Caucasian (29), 9.5% European (19), 8% Latinx (16), 8.5% Mixed (17), and 13% Other (26). Participants received credit for their course to participate in this study. They completed several measures, and the present study used data captured from several measures. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) was used to measure the difficulties with emotion regulation, which was the proposed mediator between Trauma and Interpersonal difficulties. The Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (ICQ; Buhrmester et al., 1988) was used to measure interpersonal difficulties, the primary dependent variable. The Traumatic Antecedents Questionnaire (TAQ; Van Der Kolk, 1992) was used to measure trauma experiences across different age groups.
RESULTS: Data were analysed in Jamovi. Hypotheses were tested by fitting mediation models regressing interpersonal competence directly on trauma and emotion dysregulation, and testing the indirect effect of trauma through emotion Dysregulation. Trauma at all ages significantly predicted greater emotion dysregulation. Childhood trauma had a significant indirect effect on the Conflict Management domain of the ICQ, while Adolescence Trauma had a significant indirect effect on the Initiation domain through ED. Adulthood Trauma had significant indirect effects on both the Initiation and Negative Assertion domains of the ICQ.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: While trauma at all developmental periods is related to greater emotion dysregulation, trauma seems to have different effects on the nature of interpersonal competencies depending on its developmental timing.
Early Developmental Wounds to Interpersonal Struggles: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation
INTRODUCTION: Early trauma and its effects on adult life have been studied extensively in the field of psychology. In the US, around 15% to 43% of girls and 14% to 43% of boys have experienced at least one type of trauma (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,2025). Childhood trauma has severe effects on a person’s ability to regulate emotions and can cause difficulties with interpersonal relationships (Yöyen & Bozaci, 2023). This study focused on the effects of trauma on emotion dysregulation and interpersonal relationships. Specifically, the project focused on whether the developmental periods when trauma occurred – 1) Childhood (up to 12 years), 2) adolescence (13-17 years), and 3) adulthood (18+ years), and how they are differentially related to these outcomes. It was expected that trauma would be related to more interpersonal difficulties due to increases in emotion dysregulation. This relationship was expected to be more pronounced when trauma occurred during childhood.
METHOD: 201 participants between the ages of 18 to 51 years were recruited for this study (M = 20.35 years). 167 participants were female (83%), and 32 were male (16%). Participants had diverse ethnicities with 26% Asian (52), 20.5% African (41), 14.5% Caucasian (29), 9.5% European (19), 8% Latinx (16), 8.5% Mixed (17), and 13% Other (26). Participants received credit for their course to participate in this study. They completed several measures, and the present study used data captured from several measures. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) was used to measure the difficulties with emotion regulation, which was the proposed mediator between Trauma and Interpersonal difficulties. The Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (ICQ; Buhrmester et al., 1988) was used to measure interpersonal difficulties, the primary dependent variable. The Traumatic Antecedents Questionnaire (TAQ; Van Der Kolk, 1992) was used to measure trauma experiences across different age groups.
RESULTS: Data were analysed in Jamovi. Hypotheses were tested by fitting mediation models regressing interpersonal competence directly on trauma and emotion dysregulation, and testing the indirect effect of trauma through emotion Dysregulation. Trauma at all ages significantly predicted greater emotion dysregulation. Childhood trauma had a significant indirect effect on the Conflict Management domain of the ICQ, while Adolescence Trauma had a significant indirect effect on the Initiation domain through ED. Adulthood Trauma had significant indirect effects on both the Initiation and Negative Assertion domains of the ICQ.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: While trauma at all developmental periods is related to greater emotion dysregulation, trauma seems to have different effects on the nature of interpersonal competencies depending on its developmental timing.