Emotion regulation predicts attention bias in maltreated children at-risk for depression

Background: Child maltreatment is associated with heightened risk for depression; however, not all individuals who experience maltreatment develop depression. Previous research indicates that maltreatment contributes to an attention bias for emotional cues, and that depressed individuals show attention bias for sad cues. Method: The present study examined attention patterns for sad, depression‐relevant cues in children with and without experience of maltreatment. We also explored whether individual differences in physiological reactivity and emotion regulation in response to a sad emotional state predict heightened attention to sad cues associated with depression. Results: Children who experienced high levels of maltreatment showed an increase in attention bias for sad faces throughout the course of the study, such that they showed biased attention for sad faces following the initiation of a sad emotional state. Maltreated children who had high levels of trait rumination showed an attention bias toward sad faces across all time points. Conclusions: These data suggest that maltreated children show heightened attention for depression‐relevant cues in certain contexts (e.g. after experience of a sad emotional state). Additionally, maltreated children who tend to engage in rumination show a relatively stable pattern of heightened attention for depression‐relevant cues. These patterns may identify which maltreated children are most likely to exhibit biased attention for sad cues and be at heightened risk for depression.