(PS5-B38) The Connection Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Interoceptive Deficits Is Moderated by Race/ethnicity

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with a host of negative physical and mental health outcomes. Interoceptive deficits, or the inability to perceive and accurately identify physical sensations in the body, have been associated with various psychological disorders, such as eating disorders, depression, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal ideation. Although childhood trauma has been linked to difficulty processing, integrating, and trusting bodily signals, little to no previous research has investigated the possible connection between adverse childhood experiences and interoceptive deficits. Additionally, it is possible that the link between ACEs and interoceptive deficits may be moderated by race/ethnicity. The purpose of this study was to bridge these gaps by investigating if there is a link between ACEs, interoceptive deficits, and race/ethnicity in a crowd-sourced sample of emerging adults.



Methods: The sample consisted of 400 emerging adults (55% female, 48% Caucasian, mean age = 23.3) who completed an online survey via Prolific with measures about adverse childhood experiences, interoceptive deficits, and race/ethnicity. Correlations were run to determine associations between ACEs and interoceptive deficits and a moderation analysis was conducted to determine whether race/ethnicity moderated the association between ACEs and interoceptive deficits.  

Results: ACEs and total interoceptive deficits were significantly positively correlated (r = .27).   Race/ethnicity was a significant moderator of the association between ACEs and interoceptive deficits (b = .19, p < .01), such that the association was strongest for participants identifying as Asian American (b = .26, p < .05) compared to participants identifying as White (b = .07, p < .05), African American/Black (b = .11, p < .05), Hispanic/Latino (b = .09, p = ns), or multiple race/ethnicities (b = .15, p < .05).  

Discussion: Results indicate preliminary support for an association between ACEs and interoceptive deficits. Experiencing more ACEs is associated with experiencing greater interoceptive deficits. Additionally, this association is moderated by race/ethnicity and the effect of ACEs on interoceptive deficits is significantly stronger for Asian Americans. These results suggest that experiencing childhood adversity may detrimentally impact interoceptive awareness. This impact may be experienced differently among different races. Future research is needed to determine whether increasing interoceptive awareness may lead to better mental health outcomes among emerging adults, especially ones who come from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds and have experienced ACEs.