Childhood trauma is associated with premature declines in health in midlife and old age. Pathways that have been implicated, but less studied include social-emotional regulation, biological programming, and habitual patterns of thought and action. In this study we focused on childhood trauma’s influence via alterations in social-emotional regulation to everyday life events, a pathway that has been linked to subsequent health effects. Data from a 30-day daily diary of community residents who participated in a study of resilience in Midlife (n = 191, Mage = 54, SD = 7.50, 54% women) was used to examine whether self-reports of childhood trauma were associated with daily well-being, as well as reported and emotional reactivity to daily negative and positive events. Childhood trauma reports were associated with reporting lower overall levels of and greater variability in daily well-being. Childhood trauma was linked to greater reports of daily negative events, but not to positive events. Focusing on emotional reactivity to daily events, residents who reported higher levels of childhood trauma showed stronger decreases in well-being when experiencing negative events and also stronger increases in well-being with positive events. For those reporting childhood trauma, higher levels of mastery were associated with stronger decreases in well-being with negative events and stronger increases in well-being with positive events, suggesting that mastery increases sensitivity to daily negative and positive events. Our results suggest that childhood trauma may lead to poorer health in midlife through disturbances in the patterns of everyday life events and responses to those events. Further, our findings indicate that mastery may have a different meaning for those who experienced childhood trauma. We discuss social-emotional regulation as one pathway linking childhood trauma to health, and psychosocial resources to consider when building resilience-promoting interventions for mitigating the detrimental health effects of childhood trauma.
durations change as they transition into kindergarten (TtoK), 2) if changes to children’s
sleep schedules were contingent on their pre-kindergarten (T1) napping status and if T1
bedtimes were related to fall (T2) and spring (T3) bedtimes and durations, and 3) whether
T1 sleep, changes to sleep from T1 to T2, and concurrent sleep quality were related to
academic achievement and participation in 51 kindergarteners. It was hypothesized that
1) wake times would be earlier and sleep duration would be shorter during kindergarten
(T2 and T3) than at T1, 2) children who napped at T1 would go to bed later and have
shorter sleep duration than their non-napping peers and T1 bedtimes would be positively
associated with T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively associated with T2 and T3 durations,
and 3) more optimal sleep (e.g., consolidated, consistent, and high quality) would be
positively related to academic achievement and participation. Parents reported on
children’s bedtimes, wake times, and nap lengths during T1, T2, and T3. During T3
children wore actigraphs for five consecutive school nights and completed the Woodcock
Johnson tests of achievement (WJ-III). Teachers also reported on children’s participation
in the classroom during T3. Results demonstrated that bedtimes and wake times were
earlier at T2 and T3 than T1. Duration was shorter at T2 and T3 than T1. Additionally,
napping was unrelated to bedtimes and durations, but T1 bedtime was positively related
to T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively related to T2 and T3 durations. Finally, T1 nap
length, change in bedtimes, and Actigraphy duration were negatively related to
participation. Actigraphy onset variability was positively related to participation.
