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Category: Project

Description: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as physical and psychological abuse and neglect, can have detrimental consequences on people's somatic and mental health. One mechanism through which ACEs may influence people's health is by modifying their emotional development. Indeed, research has shown that ACEs are related to heightened emotional reactivity and dysregulation. However, most research on the topic is based on designs using one-occasional global self-reports or laboratory assessments. Thus, it remains unclear whether and how ACEs shape dynamic features of peoples' everyday emotions, involving baseline level (i.e., long-run mean level), variability (i.e., moment-by-moment oscillation), and inertia (i.e., a carry-over effect from one moment to the next). Moreover, while most research has so far focused on linear associations between ACEs and emotional development, evolutionary models posit some of these associations to follow curvilinear forms, reflecting developmental adaptations to one's ecological environments. In the current study, we will examine both linear and curvilinear (U-shaped) associations of ACEs with the baseline, variability, and inertia of negative and positive emotions in daily life. We will use two ecological momentary assessment samples, where participants reported their emotions multiple times per day over several days.