Childhood maltreatment experiences and emotion perception in young Chinese adults: Sex as a moderator.

Abstract

Men and women seem to perceive and react differently to emotional stimuli and have different susceptibilities to childhood trauma. With a cross-sectional design, this study aimed to investigate whether specific patterns of childhood-maltreatment experiences are associated with specific patterns of emotion perception and the sex differences in this relationship. A total of 173 adults rated valence, arousal, and dominance for 60 pictures (varying in pleasantness, unpleasantness, and neutral emotion) from the International Affective Picture System and completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form. Using a partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis, after controlling for depressive and anxious states, recent stressful life events, personality, and cognitive reappraisal strategy, we identified a profile (linear combination) of childhood-maltreatment experiences (emotional neglect, physical neglect, and physical abuse) that was associated with a profile of emotion-perception dimensions (perceiving negative visual stimuli as more unpleasant and subservient, positive stimuli as more pleasant and dominant, and neutral stimuli as more arousing). This association pattern was significant only for the male participants. Hence, our findings suggest that childhood maltreatment might make men more "emotional" in their adulthood. The impact of this childhood-maltreatment-associated alteration in emotion perception on male mental health needs further investigation.