Individuals with and without child maltreatment experiences are evaluated similarly and do not differ in facial affect display at zero-and first- acquaintance

Abstract

Abstract Background Individuals with child maltreatment (CM) experiences are more often disliked, rejected and victimized compared to individuals without such experiences. However, contributing factors for negative evaluations are so far unknown. Objective The purpose of this preregistered study, based on previous research on adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD), was to test whether negative evaluations of adults with CM experiences, in comparison to unexposed controls, are mediated by more negative and less positive facial affect display. Additionally, we explored whether level of depression, severity of CM, social anxiety, social support, and rejection sensitivity have an influence on ratings. Methods 40 adults with CM experiences (CM+) and 40 non-maltreated (CM-) adults were filmed for measurement of affect display and rated in likeability, trustworthiness, and cooperativeness by 100 independent raters after zero-acquaintance (no interaction). Results Unexpectedly, the CM + and the CM- group were neither evaluated significantly different, nor showed significant differences in affect display. Contrasting previous research, higher levels of BPD symptoms predicted higher likeability ratings (p = .046), while complex post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms had no influence on ratings. Conclusions The non-significant effect could be attributed to insufficient number of participants, as our sample size allowed us to detect effects with medium effect sizes (f2 = .16 for evaluation; f2 = .17 for affect display) with a power of .95. Future research should further explore conditions (e.g., presence of specific mental disorders) under which individuals with CM are affected by negative evaluations as well as factors that contribute to negative evaluations and problems in social relationships.