Child maltreatment has many well-documented lasting effects on children. Among its consequences, it affects children’s recognition of emotions. More and more studies are recognizing the lasting effect that a history of maltreatment can have on emotion recognition. A systematic literature review was conducted to better understand this relationship. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol was used and four databases were searched, MEDLINE/PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and FRANCIS, using three cross-referenced key words: child abuse, emotion recognition, and adults. The search process identified 23 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The review highlights the wide variety of measures used to assess child maltreatment as well as the different protocols used to measure emotion recognition. The results indicate that adults with a history of childhood maltreatment show a differentiated reaction to happiness, anger, and fear. Happiness is less detected, whereas negative emotions are recognized more rapidly and at a lower intensity compared to adults not exposed to such traumatic events. Emotion recognition is also related to greater brain activation for the maltreated group. However, the results are less consistent for adults who also have a diagnosis of mental health problems. The systematic review found that maltreatment affects the perception of emotions expressed on both adult and child faces. However, more research is needed to better understand how a history of maltreatment is related to adults’ perception of children’s emotions.

虐待儿童对儿童有许多有据可查的持久影响。在其后果中，它会影响儿童对情绪的认知。越来越多的研究认识到虐待史会对情绪识别产生持久影响。进行了系统的文献回顾以更好地理解这种关系。使用系统评价和荟萃分析 (PRISMA) 协议的首选报告项目并搜索四个数据库，MEDLINE/PubMed、PsycINFO、EMBASE 和 FRANCIS，使用三个交叉引用的关键词：虐待儿童、情绪识别和成人. 搜索过程确定了 23 项符合纳入标准的研究。该评论强调了用于评估虐待儿童的各种措施以及用于衡量情绪识别的不同协议。结果表明，有童年虐待史的成年人对快乐、愤怒和恐惧表现出不同的反应。与未经历过此类创伤事件的成年人相比，幸福感较少被察觉，而负面情绪的识别速度更快且强度更低。情绪识别也与受虐待组的大脑激活程度更高有关。然而，对于也有心理健康问题诊断的成年人，结果不太一致。系统评价发现，虐待会影响成人和儿童脸上表达的情绪感知。然而，需要更多的研究来更好地了解虐待史与成年人对儿童情绪的感知之间的关系。