Exploring the Relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation among College Students

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been consistently associated with long-term cognitive, emotional, and health-related outcomes. Since the original ACE study established a dose-response relationship between cumulative childhood adversity and later functioning, researchers have increasingly examined the mechanisms through which early adversity influences adult adjustment. One domain that appears particularly sensitive to early stress exposure is emotion regulation. Chronic activation of stress-response systems during childhood may influence the development of regulatory processes that support adaptive functioning during periods of distress. Although prior research has linked ACE exposure to broad measures of emotional dysregulation, fewer studies have examined how cumulative ACE scores relate to specific domains of emotion regulation within undergraduate populations. Understanding these domain-specific associations may clarify how early adversity manifests in emotional functioning during emerging adulthood. The present study examined the relationship between ACE scores and both overall and domain-specific difficulties in emotion regulation among undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. ACE scores were analyzed as a continuous variable to preserve statistical power and capture the full range of adversity exposure. Emotion regulation difficulties were assessed using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), which measures six domains: nonacceptance of emotional responses, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, lack of emotional awareness, limited access to regulation strategies, and lack of emotional clarity. In addition to examining associations between ACE scores and DERS outcomes, the study evaluated the feasibility of recruiting participants with low (ACE = 0) and high (ACE ≥ 4) adversity exposure for future research.

Participants were 182 undergraduate students enrolled at East Carolina University who completed the ACE Questionnaire, the DERS, and a demographic questionnaire through the university’s SONA research participation system. Descriptive statistics were compiled for all major variables. Because ACE scores demonstrated significant positive skew and violated normality assumptions, nonparametric analyses were conducted. Kendall’s tau-b correlations were used to examine associations between ACE scores and total DERS scores, as well as between ACE scores and each DERS subscale. Results indicated a statistically significant positive association between ACE scores and overall emotion regulation difficulties. Higher ACE scores were associated with higher total DERS scores, suggesting that students who reported greater exposure to childhood adversity also reported more difficulty managing emotional responses. Domain-specific analyses revealed significant positive associations between ACE scores and nonacceptance of emotional responses, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, limited access to emotion regulation strategies, and lack of emotional clarity. No significant association was observed between ACE scores and emotional awareness. These findings suggest that ACE exposure may be more strongly related to how individuals respond to and manage emotions rather than whether they notice emotional experiences. Although the observed associations were statistically significant, effect sizes were small to moderate in magnitude, indicating that ACE exposure represents one contributing factor among many influencing emotional functioning. The feasibility analysis demonstrated adequate representation of both low- and high-adversity groups within the sample, supporting the practicality of recruiting 20 to 25 participants for future task-based mathematical problem solving interviews designed to examine real-time emotion regulation processes. Overall, the findings extend prior research by demonstrating that cumulative ACE exposure is associated with both overall and domain-specific difficulties in emotion regulation within a non-clinical undergraduate population. These results underscore the importance of trauma-informed approaches in higher education settings and provide foundational support for future behavioral research examining emotion regulation during mathematical problem solving tasks.