Data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) were utilized to provide the first investigation into the early childhood antecedents of dehumanization (i.e., treating another as less than human) in adult romantic relationships. Drawing on a sample of 109 MLSRA participants, multiple assessments of maternal care and empathy were collected during infancy and early childhood. In adulthood, MLSRA participants and their romantic partners engaged in video recorded conflict discussions in which dehumanization perpetration was coded. Maternal hostility was a significant and unique predictor of dehumanization perpetration. This longitudinal association remained even when controlling for the partner’s displays of dehumanization and several demographic covariates. This study provides the first evidence of early childhood antecedents of dehumanization and highlights how experiences during the first few years of life can have enduring downstream consequences for people’s romantic relationships 20–30 years later.

利用来自明尼苏达州风险与适应纵向研究（MLSRA）的数据，对成年恋爱关系中非人性化的早期儿童行为（即，将他人视为比人类少）进行了首次调查。根据109名MLSRA参与者的样本，在婴儿期和幼儿期收集了对孕产妇保健和同理心的多种评估。在成年时期，MLSRA参与者及其浪漫伴侣参与了视频记录的冲突讨论，其中对非人性犯罪进行了编码。产妇的敌对是非人性化犯罪的重要且独特的预测因子。即使在控制伴侣显示的非人性化和几个人口统计学协变量时，这种纵向联系仍然存在。