Childhood emotional abuse has been linked to the development of various forms of psychopathology in adulthood. Evidence suggests that one mechanism for this risk may be heightened reactivity to future stress. [(Angelakis et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2018)](#ref-0001)The goal of this study was to examine a psychophysiological marker of stress reactivity, respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA). Specifically, in a sample of young adults oversampled for histories of childhood emotional abuse, we collected electrocardiography for indexing RSA during a standardized laboratory-based stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). We predicted that higher levels of childhood emotional abuse would be associated with lower levels of resting RSA during the baseline period of the TSST and greater RSA reactivity (reductions) during the anticipation and stress phases of the TSST. Partially supporting our hypotheses, a history of childhood emotional abuse was associated greater RSA reactivity, but only during the anticipation phase of the TSST. These results provide partial support for my hypothesis, suggesting that emotional abuse may increase stress sensitivity at the anticipation of stressors in young adults.