Relative to other types of traumatic experiences, a lifetime history of sexual violence (SV) has been linked with more persistent and severe mental health outcomes, but the reasons for this discrepancy have not been clearly established. Stress sensitization, or the amplification of responses to daily stressors as a function of trauma history, offers one possible explanation. Using ecological momentary assessment, the current study tested stress sensitization effects in daily life for individuals with a history of SV, focusing on emotion regulation as an outcome. Smartphone surveys were delivered four times per day over a 2-week period to assess relationships between prior SV exposure, daily stressors, and emotion regulation in an undergraduate sample ( N = 122). As expected, individuals with lifetime exposure to SV evidenced increased emotion dysregulation and maladaptive emotion regulation in response to daily stressors relative to nonexposed peers, even after accounting for cumulative trauma. However, the SV and non-SV groups did not differ significantly on state adaptive emotion regulation. Instead, experiencing daily stressors was associated with increased adaptive emotion regulation for individuals in both groups. Broadly, results suggest that SV is uniquely associated with increased sensitivity to daily stressors, manifested as emotion dysregulation and use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies to regulate emotions. These findings are consistent with emerging research on the neurobiology of trauma and with an emphasis on emotion regulation skills in leading interventions for SV-exposed individuals. Stress sensitization warrants additional attention as a factor linking SV and mental health problems.

中文翻译：

---

日常生活中的性受害历史和情绪调节：压力敏感化的作用


相对于其他类型的创伤经历，终生性暴力史 （SV） 与更持久和更严重的心理健康结果有关，但这种差异的原因尚未明确确定。压力敏化，或作为创伤史功能对日常压力源的反应的放大，提供了一种可能的解释。目前的研究使用生态瞬时评估测试了有 SV 病史的个体在日常生活中的压力敏化效应，重点是情绪调节作为结果。在 2 周的时间内每天进行 4 次智能手机调查，以评估本科样本中先前的 SV 暴露、日常压力源和情绪调节之间的关系 （N = 122）。正如预期的那样，与未暴露的同龄人相比，终生暴露于 SV 的个体在响应日常压力源时表现出更多的情绪失调和适应不良的情绪调节，即使在考虑了累积创伤之后也是如此。然而，SV 组和非 SV 组在状态适应性情绪调节方面没有显著差异。相反，经历日常压力源与两组中个体的适应性情绪调节增加有关。从广义上讲，结果表明 SV 与对日常压力源的敏感性增加独特相关，表现为情绪失调和使用适应不良的情绪调节策略来调节情绪。这些发现与创伤神经生物学的新兴研究一致，并强调情绪调节技能在领导 SV 暴露个体的干预中。压力敏化作为 SV 与心理健康问题之间的一个因素，值得额外关注。