Certain clinical features, as well as childhood maltreatment (in particular, neglect), may significantly impact moral decision making in adult life, according to a recent study. Surprisingly, childhood trauma was associated with a more utilitarian style, however, which is in the opposite direction from previous effects shown in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These results suggest that there may be a protective quality associated with utilitarian moral decision-making tendencies. 62 euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and 27 controls responded to moral dilemma scenarios and completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Researchers found:

• Results revealed a main effect of diagnosis on moral decision-making only when both personal force and an intention were required, indicating a more utilitarian style in BD patients relative to controls.
• Several interesting patterns also emerged regardless of diagnostic status.
• Higher ratings of physical neglect were significantly associated with higher ratings of acceptability (a utilitarian tendency) across dilemma types, and a similar pattern was observed at the trend level for experiences of emotional neglect.