Pathways linking childhood emotional abuse and neglect to punitive attitudes: The role of interpersonal trust and emotion regulation.

BACKGROUND: Child emotional maltreatment (emotional abuse and neglect) is a prevalent yet under-recognized adversity associated with long-term socioemotional difficulties. Its role in shaping adults' endorsement of emotionally punitive disciplinary attitudes in the context of child-rearing and parenting, reflecting normative beliefs about the acceptability of emotionally punitive behaviors (e.g., shouting, humiliation, or withdrawal of affection), remains insufficiently understood. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether childhood emotional maltreatment is associated with adults' endorsement of emotionally punitive disciplinary attitudes in a parenting context, and whether statistically significant indirect effects are observed via generalized interpersonal trust and emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression). METHODS: Data were drawn from a population-representative German survey conducted in 2024/2025 (analytic sample N = 2458; ages 16-92). Emotional maltreatment was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Generalized trust (3 items) and emotion regulation (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: reappraisal, suppression) served as statistical mediators (i.e., variables used to estimate indirect effects); endorsement of emotionally punitive disciplinary practices in a parenting context, reflecting normative beliefs rather than actual parenting behavior (3 items), was the outcome. Mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS v4.2 (Model 4), controlling for age, gender, and education. Indirect effects were estimated with 5000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples and HC3 standard errors. RESULTS: Greater severity of emotional maltreatment was associated with stronger endorsement of emotionally punitive discipline. In simple mediation models, lower generalized trust showed a statistically significant indirect effect in this association (accounting for ∼26% of the total effect). When emotional abuse and emotional neglect were examined separately, abuse showed an indirect-only pattern via reduced trust, whereas neglect demonstrated both direct and indirect associations via trust. In a parallel multiple-mediator model, lower trust, lower cognitive reappraisal, and higher expressive suppression each showed significant indirect effects, with trust emerging as the strongest pathway. Direct effects remained significant, indicating partial indirect effects overall. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood emotional maltreatment is linked to adults' acceptance of emotionally punitive disciplinary norms through enduring socio-cognitive and affective mechanisms. Interventions that promote interpersonal trust and adaptive emotion regulation may help disrupt intergenerational cycles of emotionally harsh discipline.