Browsing by Author "Shenk, C. E., Putnam, F. W., & Noll, J. G."
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Item Experiential Avoidance and the Relationship between Child Maltreatment and PTSD Symptoms: Preliminary Evidence(Child abuse & neglect, 2012) Shenk, C. E., Putnam, F. W., & Noll, J. G.Objective: Not every adolescent exposed to child maltreatment develops symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emphasizing the need to identify variables that explain how some maltreated children come to develop these symptoms. This study tested whether a set of variables, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and cortisol reactivity as well as experiential avoidance, explained the relationship between child maltreatment and PTSD symptoms. Methods: Adolescent females (N = 110; n = 51 maltreated) 14-19 years of age completed interviews, questionnaires, and a stressor paradigm. A multiple mediator model was used to assess the effect for the set of variables while identifying specific indirect effects for each variable. Results: Results indicated that the set of variables mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and PTSD symptoms. However, only experiential avoidance contributed significantly to this effect when simultaneously estimating all other variables. The indirect effect for experiential avoidance was also significantly stronger than the effects of RSA and cortisol reactivity. Conclusions: Data support the examination of experiential avoidance in understanding how adolescents who have been maltreated develop PTSD symptoms with implications for prevention and intervention. (Author Abstract)Item Predicting the accuracy of facial affect recognition: The interaction of child maltreatment and intellectual functioning(Journal of experimental child psychology, 2013) Shenk, C. E., Putnam, F. W., & Noll, J. G.Previous research demonstrates that both child maltreatment and intellectual performance contribute uniquely to the accurate identification of facial affect by children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to extend this research by examining whether child maltreatment affects the accuracy of facial recognition differently at varying levels of intellectual functioning. A sample of maltreated (n = 50) and nonmaltreated (n = 56) adolescent females, 14 to 19 years of age, was recruited to participate in this study. Participants completed demographic and study-related questionnaires and interviews to control for potential psychological and psychiatric confounds such as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, negative affect, and difficulties in emotion regulation. Participants also completed an experimental paradigm that recorded responses to facial affect displays starting in a neutral expression and changing into a full expression of one of six emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear, or surprise. Hierarchical multiple regression assessed the incremental advantage of evaluating the interaction between child maltreatment and intellectual functioning. Results indicated that the interaction term accounted for a significant amount of additional variance in the accurate identification of facial affect after controlling for relevant covariates and main effects. Specifically, maltreated females with lower levels of intellectual functioning were least accurate in identifying facial affect displays, whereas those with higher levels of intellectual functioning performed as well as nonmaltreated females. These results suggest that maltreatment and intellectual functioning interact to predict the recognition of facial affect, with potential long-term consequences for the interpersonal functioning of maltreated females. (Author Abstract)