About This Project
Childhood emotional neglect (CEN) is one of the most common forms of maltreatment, yet no direct measurement tool exists to study it. This project pilots the Childhood Emotional Neglect Outcomes Scale (CENOS): a behaviorally-based, standalone assessment measure of CEN, examining how caregiver failure to model repair shapes adult relationships. I hypothesize that higher CENOS scores will be associated with measurable differences in adult relational repair capacity (ARC).
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
Childhood emotional neglect (CEN) occurs when caregivers chronically fail to model emotionally attuned responses to a child's experience. Despite being one of the most frequently reported forms of maltreatment, CEN lacks a consistent definition across disciplines and is typically measured as a subscale within broader trauma instruments rather than as a distinct construct. This definitional inconsistency limits the precision with which CEN's unique outcomes can be identified and studied. Critically, no standalone, behaviorally-based psychometric instrument for CEN currently exists, leaving researchers and clinicians without a direct tool to more accurately assess its prevalence or impact on adult functioning.
What is the significance of this project?
The absence of a direct measurement tool for CEN has meaningful consequences for both research and clinical practice. Without a validated, CEN-specific instrument, researchers cannot reliably isolate CEN as a distinct construct or map its unique pathways to adult outcomes. Clinically, this limits practitioners' ability to screen for CEN and target its specific sequelae in treatment. The proposed Omission of Relational Repair model addresses this gap by identifying a behaviorally specific mechanism linking early caregiver omission to impaired adult relational repair capacity; a pathway mediated by disrupted affect integration and maladaptive shame-driven responses. The CENOS operationalizes this model, providing the first direct measure of CEN and its relational outcomes in adulthood.
What are the goals of the project?
The goal of this project is to conduct the first pilot study of the Childhood Emotional Neglect Outcomes Scale (CENOS), a novel self-report instrument designed to assess retrospective caregiver omission of relational repair and present-day adult relational repair capacity. Approximately 200-300 adults will be recruited through CloudResearch and social media platforms and asked to complete the CENOS alongside established measures of shame-driven responses and affect integration. Pilot data will be used to evaluate the scale's internal consistency, convergent validity, and preliminary factor structure. Findings will inform refinement of the CENOS and provide the first empirical test of the Omission of Relational Repair model of CEN.
Budget
CloudResearch is the participant recruitment platform providing access to a verified pool of research participants. 200 participants will be recruited and compensated at $3.50 per completed response, ensuring a quality controlled sample for early stage measurement development. CloudResearch also has a 25% fee totalling $175, bringing the total to $875.
SurveyMonkey access requires a monthly subscription ($99/month, estimated 4 months) to administer and securely collect pilot survey responses. Extended subscription accounts for additional participants recruited through social media platforms.
Platform Fees include campaign processing fee of 13%.
Endorsed by
Project Timeline
My goal is to launch within the next 30 days with data collection ending over the summer to allow for Fall data analysis so that findings are ready to submit the pilot proposal to conferences, including my dream of presenting at the APA annual convention.
Jun 09, 2026
Project Launched
Jun 30, 2026
IRB approval received; participant recruitment launches via CloudResearch and social media platforms
Jul 01, 2026
Data collection; target of 200-300 completed responses
Sep 30, 2026
Data collection closes; preliminary data cleaning and preparation begins
Oct 31, 2026
Data analysis including exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency evaluation, and mediation analysis
Meet the Team
Emma Guzman
I'm Emma Guzman, a licensed mental health counselor and independent researcher based in Rhode Island. I specialize in relational and developmental trauma; the kind that doesn't always leave visible marks but shapes how people move through relationships, conflict, and connection for decades.
My clinical work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, polyvagal theory, and parts-based approaches. Over the last four years of sitting with clients who struggled to repair relationships after conflict, I started noticing a pattern that existing research wasn't quite capturing.
That pattern became the Omission of Relational Repair model, a theoretical framework proposing that childhood emotional neglect impacts adult relationships specifically through its disruption of our capacity to repair after rupture. And the absence of any tool to directly measure this led me to develop the CENOS; a standalone assessment instrument designed specifically for childhood emotional neglect.
I'm an independent practitioner-researcher, which means no university funding, no research assistant, no institutional backing. Just a clinician who saw something in the room that the field hadn't named yet and decided to build the tools to measure it.
Additional Information
This research is entirely self-funded and conducted independently of any academic institution. As a licensed clinician in full-time private practice, I developed the Omission of Relational Repair model and the CENOS without institutional support, research assistants, or protected time, driven by patterns I observed clinically that existing frameworks weren't capturing. This work has been accepted for presentation at the 2026 Colorado Counseling Association annual conference and the theoretical manuscript has been submitted for peer review publication. Every dollar raised goes directly toward making the pilot study possible. Independent practitioner-research is rare precisely because it's hard to fund. Your support makes this work viable.
Project Backers
- 0Backers
- 0%Funded
- $0Total Donations
- $0Average Donation
