Nina Duggal ‘22

Nina Duggal

Major: Neuroscience
Bio: I am senior studying Neuroscience with a concentration in Cognition. My research is based on data from the Parent and Child Emtions Study at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

Title of Research: The Relationship Between The Number of Childhood Traumatic Events Experienced and Emotion Regulation Processes
Mentor: Dr. Karen Siedlecki-Burgoon, Department of Psychology
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the number of traumatic experiences a child has and emotion regulation processes. It was predicted that children who experience more events of trauma will show more signs of emotional dysregulation. The participants consisted of 41 parents between the ages of 27-54 who took part in the  Parent and Child Emotions Study  (PACES; Greene, 2021). The participants were parents of children between the ages of 9-12 who have experienced a traumatic event. The number of traumatic events the child experienced was reported by the parent using the Structured Trauma-Related Experiences and Symptoms Screener (STRESS; Grasso et al., 2015). Emotion regulation was also reported by the parent using the Children’s Emotion Management Scales (CEMS) (Zeman, et al. 2010). Two-block hierarchical regressions were used to examine the influence of the number of traumatic experiences on emotional regulation processes. Hierarchical regressions were conducted separately for each of the three dependent variables, corresponding to each subscale of the CEMS: inhibition, coping, and dysregulation. None of the results were significant, but they did demonstrate a positive (non-significant) correlation between the number of traumatic experiences that the child experienced and inhibition and emotion dysregulation. The results also demonstrated that there was a negative (non-significant) correlation between the number of traumatic events experienced and coping in the CEMS.  The study is important to better understand the emotion regulation difficulties children may experience after facing trauma.