Childhood trauma and sensitivity to reward and punishment: Implications for depressive and anxiety symptoms

Extensive evidence indicates that early adversity is associated with a lifelong increased risk for psychopathology. One of the mechanisms underlying this effect may involve maladaptive personality traits. This study investigated whether childhood trauma is related to individual differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment, construed as the personality correlates of the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). The potential mediator role of these individual differences in the relation between childhood trauma and emotional symptoms was also examined. Healthy adult participants (N=375), with a self-reported history of childhood interpersonal trauma, non-interpersonal trauma or no trauma, filled in questionnaires about the anticipation of, and emotional responsiveness to reward and punishment, as well as depressive and anxiety symptoms. Participants with a history of interpersonal trauma reported both reduced levels of motivation for reward and increased levels of sensitivity to punishment, compared to participants with non-interpersonal trauma and no trauma. Sensitivity to punishment carried the effect of interpersonal trauma on both depressive and anxiety symptoms, whereas motivation for reward played a mediator role only in the relation between trauma and depressive symptoms.