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Sad, Sadder, Saddest: Recognition of Sad and Happy Emotional Intensity, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Depressive Symptoms in Preschoolers

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Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) have repeatedly been associated with depression. The ability to differentiate emotional intensity is a protective factor for psychopathology and in the context of life stressors, poor negative emotion differentiation (ED) is associated with depressive symptoms. However, little is known about whether the ability to recognize negative emotional intensity, a theorized developmental prerequisite of ED, influences the relationship between ACES and depressive symptoms in early childhood. The current study examined the interactive effects of ACES, the ability to recognize emotional intensity and depressive symptoms in 249 preschoolers enriched for depression. Findings demonstrated that when experiencing ACES, sad (not happy) emotion recognition was associated with elevated depressive symptoms. Specifically, when facing multiple ACEs, preschoolers with poor and moderate ability to recognize sad emotional intensity exhibited elevated depressive symptoms. Findings demonstrate that when experiencing elevated ACES, sad emotion recognition may be a protective factor for depression in early childhood.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Rebecca Tillman for help with data management and organization and the participants in the Preschool Depression Study (PDS).

Funding

This work was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH090786 and K23MH115074).

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park, Suite 2100, St. Louis, MO, 63108, USA

    Ella Sudit, Joan Luby & Kirsten Gilbert

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  1. Ella Sudit
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  2. Joan Luby
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Correspondence to Kirsten Gilbert.

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Conflict of interest

JL and KG have received research grants from the National Institute of Health and KG has received research grants from Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Sudit, E., Luby, J. & Gilbert, K. Sad, Sadder, Saddest: Recognition of Sad and Happy Emotional Intensity, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Depressive Symptoms in Preschoolers. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 53, 1221–1230 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01203-9

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