PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

**Abstract**
Exposure to adverse experiences is a well‐established major risk factor for affective psychopathology. The vulnerability of deleterious sequelae is assumed in maladaptive processes of the defensive system, particularly in emotional processing. More specifically, childhood maltreatment has been suggested to be associated with the recruitment of specific and distinct defensive response profiles. To date, it remains unclear whether these are specific or generalizable to recent adversity in adulthood. This pre‐registered study aimed to investigate the impact of exposure to childhood and recent adversity on emotional processing in 685 healthy adults with the “Affective Startle Modulation” Paradigm (ASM). First, we replicated higher trait anxiety and depression levels in individuals exposed to both types of adversity. Second, we observed increased general skin conductance reactivity in individuals exposed to recent adversity. Third, individualsexposed to childhood maltreatmentshowed reduced, while individualsexposed to recent adversityshowed increased discrimination between pictures of negative and neutral valence, compared with non‐exposed individuals in SCR. No association between exposure to adversity and fear potentiated startle was observed. Furthermore, explorative analyses revealed moderate dimensional and categorical agreement between two childhood maltreatment questionnaires and provide insight into potential adversity‐type specific effects. Our results support experience‐dependent plasticity in sympathetic nervous system reactivity and suggest distinct response profiles in affective modulation in individuals exposed to early versus recent adversity. We emphasize the need to further explore distinct adversity profiles to further our understanding on specific psychophysiological profiles and their potential implication for prevention and intervention.

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Our results of an exceptionally large data set provide evidence that both childhood and recent adverse experiences “get under the skin” and manifest as distinct affect‐related response profiles in sympathetic nervous system reactivity. Our work is particularly timely in light of frequent global outbreaks (COVID‐19 pandemic, war in the Ukraine) and contributes to a research line with the long‐term goal to optimize prevention and intervention approaches and potentially tailor them to specific individual profiles.