Project TRAIL
Thriving, Responding, and Adapting in Interpersonal Life
Principal Investigators
Project Summary
Child abuse and neglect (CAN) is an enduring predictor of adult social difficulties in intimate partner relationships and caregiving of offspring. However, little is known about how, why, and when CAN increases vulnerability to adulthood relationship problems. The aim of Project TRAIL is to examine the adult intimate partner and parent-child relationship sequelae of adverse and benevolent socialization experiences in childhood.
The longitudinal project seeks to follow a sample of approximately 200 28- to 32-year-old adults who participated in two prior measurement occasions when they were 10- to 12-years-old and 18- to 22- years-old.
The multi-multi-method, multi-informant methodological approach is designed to examine the close relationship qualities of adults with their partners and own children who experienced different types of adverse and supportive experiences. A key aim of this long-term longitudinal study is to identify the mediating mechanisms and moderating conditions (e.g., protective factors) that underpin their close relationship experiences in adulthood.
Aim 1: Prospectively examine how CAN dimensions might operate as sources of variability in multiple adult experiences in intimate partner and parent-child relationships
Aim 2: Test neurocognitive functioning, psychopathology, parent-child attachment representations, and social competence as mediating mechanisms in links between CAN adult experiences in intimate partner and parent-child relationships
Aim 3: Identify sources of heterogeneity in the relational sequelae of CAN within a multi-level moderator framework including: intrapersonal attributes, family characteristics, and ecological characteristics