Altered Social Information Processing and Behavioral Responsivity as Mechanisms Linking Childhood Experiences of Violence with Psychopathology

Abstract

In the United States, over half of youth experience or witness interpersonal violence. Extensive research links these experiences with heightened risk for developing mental health problems throughout life. Despite advances in our understanding of how early violence exposure impacts mental health, there remains a need to refine translational mechanisms to guide intervention efforts. This dissertation leverages theory and methods from clinical, developmental, and social psychology to characterize the interplay of early-life violence exposure with the development of information processing patterns that hold relevance for mental health and patterns of aggressive behavior that may underlie or maintain “cycles of violence.” Paper 1 utilizes a three-timepoint longitudinal design, developmental sample, and experimental manipulation to test whether alterations in implicit bias for novel groups is a mechanism linking childhood violence exposure with prospective risk for internalizing symptoms. Paper 2 attempts to replicate and extend findings from Paper 1 in a larger sample of young adults to test whether alterations in implicit social cognition following violence exposure persist into adulthood, and to examine whether early violence exposure similarly impacts affect biases relevant to social cognition and mental health. Paper 3 aims to characterize behavioral risk factors for becoming violence-involved that are informed by similar social and affective information processing biases using an ecologically-valid aggression paradigm in a high-risk adolescent sample. Together, findings from this dissertation suggest that subconscious intergroup biases, such as implicit bias for novel groups, may be an important mechanism linking early violence exposure with risk for mental health, and implicate the development of aggressive response styles as a risk factor for perpetrating violence. Future directions are discussed throughout and in the general discussion.