Exploring Associations Between Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Self-Esteem in Adulthood Using Simulated Data

ow self-esteem lies at the core of various psychiatric disorders. Emotional maltreatment during childhood is associated with low self-esteem and elevated sensitivity to social rejection later in life. However, it is unclear how childhood emotional maltreatment impacts on the extent to which moment-to-moment self-esteem is shaped by social evaluation. This study examined associations between retrospectively reported emotional maltreatment and self-esteem reactivity in response to social evaluation. Young adult participants (n = 78; 55 female) reported on childhood emotional abuse and neglect and current trait self-esteem. Since behavioural data collection was not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I created a simulated dataset by matching participants’ self-report data to self-esteem responsivity data from other participants with identical trait self-esteem scores who performed a social evaluation task. Results showed that childhood abuse and neglect were negatively related to...Show moreow self-esteem lies at the core of various psychiatric disorders. Emotional maltreatment during childhood is associated with low self-esteem and elevated sensitivity to social rejection later in life. However, it is unclear how childhood emotional maltreatment impacts on the extent to which moment-to-moment self-esteem is shaped by social evaluation. This study examined associations between retrospectively reported emotional maltreatment and self-esteem reactivity in response to social evaluation. Young adult participants (n = 78; 55 female) reported on childhood emotional abuse and neglect and current trait self-esteem. Since behavioural data collection was not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I created a simulated dataset by matching participants’ self-report data to self-esteem responsivity data from other participants with identical trait self-esteem scores who performed a social evaluation task. Results showed that childhood abuse and neglect were negatively related to trait self-esteem. Task data revealed that approval increased self-esteem and disapproval decreased it. Simulated data showed no evidence of emotional abuse and neglect moderating self-esteem responsivity to social evaluation. These findings suggest that, while childhood maltreatment is linked to low trait self-esteem later in life, lower self-esteem is likely not caused by greater self-esteem reactivity to social evaluation. These findings highlight the need to research alternative pathways by which a history of emotional maltreatment may contribute to the maintenance of low self-esteem.Show less

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Exploring Associations Between Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Self-Esteem in Adulthood Using Simulated Data