Cardiac and Electrodermal Responses to Threats: Modulation by Childhood Sexual Abuse History

IF 4 Q2 NEUROSCIENCES
Mariana Xavier , Arthur V. Machado , Eliane Volchan , Letícia Oliveira , Liana Catarina L. Portugal , Gabriela G.L. Souza , Fátima S. Erthal , Raquel M. Gonçalves , Camila M.F. Gama , Rita de Cássia S. Alves , Izabela Mocaiber , Mirtes G. Pereira
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with significant negative lifelong consequences for physical and mental health. However, the impact of CSA history on danger perception and response has been understudied. In this study, we explored how autonomic reactivity to threats is influenced by the history of CSA in a nonclinical sample.

Methods

Participants were undergraduate students with no current diagnosis of cardiovascular disease or mental disorders. After exclusion criteria were applied, the sample consisted of 135 participants. Among these 135 participants, 48 (mean age, 20.43 years; SD, 3.07; 9 men) reported having experienced significant CSA (CSA group), and 87 (mean age, 20.89 years; SD, 4.99; 30 men) reported not having had such experiences (non-CSA group). The participants viewed trauma-unrelated threatening or neutral pictures while their skin conductance response and heart rate data were collected.

Results

Compared with the neutral pictures, when viewing trauma-unrelated threatening pictures, the non-CSA group presented bradycardia, which is a typical cardiac response upon exposure to negative images. In contrast, the CSA group presented a blunted cardiac response. Furthermore, we observed an overrepresentation of skin conductance nonresponders in the CSA group.

Conclusions

Taken together, these findings suggest that youth who are exposed to CSA seem to have blunted autonomic responsiveness to threats. This blunted responsiveness is an atypical pattern that may represent a biomarker of many unfavorable physiological and psychological outcomes.
心脏和皮肤电对威胁的反应:儿童期性虐待史的调节
儿童性虐待(CSA)与身体和心理健康的重大负面终身后果有关。然而,CSA历史对危险感知和反应的影响尚未得到充分研究。在这项研究中,我们探讨了非临床样本中CSA病史如何影响对威胁的自主反应。方法研究对象为目前无心血管疾病或精神障碍诊断的大学生。应用排除标准后,样本包括135名参与者。135例受试者中,48例(平均年龄20.43岁;SD, 3.07;9名男性报告有明显的CSA (CSA组),87名(平均年龄20.89岁;SD, 4.99;30名男性)报告没有这样的经历(非csa组)。参与者观看与创伤无关的威胁性或中性图片,同时收集他们的皮肤电导反应和心率数据。结果与中性图片相比,非csa组在观看与创伤无关的威胁性图片时出现心动过缓,这是暴露于负面图像后的典型心脏反应。相比之下,CSA组表现出迟钝的心脏反应。此外,我们观察到CSA组中皮肤电导无反应的比例过高。综上所述,这些发现表明,暴露于CSA的青少年似乎对威胁的自主反应减弱了。这种迟钝的反应是一种非典型的模式,可能代表了许多不利的生理和心理结果的生物标志物。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Biological psychiatry global open science
Biological psychiatry global open science Psychiatry and Mental Health
CiteScore
4.00
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审稿时长
91 days
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