Exploratory behavior, as an essential component of decision-making, is indispensable for maximizing long-term benefits, making it a crucial factor in adolescents' psychological well-being and social adaptation. Despite the established understanding that this adaptive behavior is shaped by early adverse experiences, limited knowledge exists regarding the longitudinal relationship between childhood maltreatment and exploratory behavior. The present study examines whether childhood maltreatment would impede subsequent exploratory behavior, considering the mediating role of uncertainty stress and the moderating role of intolerance of uncertainty. Participants were 655 adolescents from a longitudinal design with two waves spanning six months ( = 15.99, = 0.92, 43.5 % female). Correlation analysis and longitudinal moderated mediation effect testing were used to test our hypotheses. Correlation analysis indicated that childhood maltreatment was negatively correlated with exploratory behavior only simultaneously but not longitudinally. After controlling age and gender, childhood maltreatment would accompany higher levels of uncertainty stress, which in turn may act as a driving force behind subsequent exploratory behavior. The heightened intolerance of uncertainty may potentially mitigate the direct link between childhood maltreatment and later exploratory behavior. Furthermore, this trait amplifies the experienced uncertainty stress in individuals who have undergone maltreatment, thereby increasing their inclination toward engaging in subsequent exploratory behavior. Given the critical role of uncertainty stress, promoting more exploration among these maltreated adolescents requires corresponding cognitive and behavioral interventions to adjust their perception and cognition of uncertainty.

中文翻译：

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面对不确定性：童年虐待与探索行为之间的纵向关系

探索行为作为决策的重要组成部分，对于实现长期利益最大化不可或缺，是青少年心理健康和社会适应的关键因素。尽管人们已经认识到这种适应性行为是由早期不良经历塑造的，但关于儿童期虐待和探索行为之间的纵向关系的知识有限。本研究探讨了童年虐待是否会阻碍随后的探索行为，考虑到不确定性压力的中介作用和不容忍不确定性的调节作用。参与者为 655 名青少年，采用纵向设计，分为两波，跨越六个月（= 15.99，= 0.92，43.5% 为女性）。使用相关分析和纵向调节中介效应检验来检验我们的假设。相关分析表明，儿童期虐待与探索行为仅同时负相关，而非纵向负相关。在控制了年龄和性别后，童年虐待会伴随着更高水平的不确定性压力，这反过来可能成为随后探索行为的驱动力。对不确定性的高度不容忍可能会减轻童年虐待与后来的探索行为之间的直接联系。此外，这种特征放大了遭受虐待的个体所经历的不确定性压力，从而增加了他们参与后续探索行为的倾向。鉴于不确定性压力的关键作用，促进这些受虐待青少年进行更多探索需要相应的认知和行为干预，以调整他们对不确定性的感知和认知。