Citation

Skowron EA, Kozlowski JM, Pincus AL. J. Couns. Psychol. 2010; 57(3): 304-316.

Affiliation

Pennsylvania State University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

20729978

PMCID

PMC2923821

Abstract

This set of studies was designed to examine the relational underpinnings of child abuse potential in a sample of 51 urban families. In Study 1, lower maternal differentiation of self-most notably, greater emotional reactivity and greater emotional cutoff-along with self-attacking introjects, together distinguished mothers at higher risk (vs. lower risk) for child maltreatment (CM). In Study 2, patterns of interactive rupture and repair were examined in a subsample of n = 15 families and found to vary as a function of risk for CM. Specifically, SASB coding (Benjamin, 1996, 2003) of mother-children interactions during two moderately stressful lab tasks revealed higher rates of interactive mismatch and mother-initiated ruptures, and fewer successful repairs in families at higher-risk-for-CM, relative to families at lower-risk. Implications for counseling and directions for further translational research are discussed.

Language: en