Citation

Bottos S, Nilsen ES. Child Abuse Negl. 2014; 38(6): 1094-1105.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.02.012

PMID

24656712

Abstract

The current study sought to explicate the nature of the associations between mothers' childhood experiences of maltreatment, depressive symptoms, and children's mentalizing, with a particular interest in examining the effect mothers' histories of emotional maltreatment (EMT) may have on children's outcomes. Within this context, maternal EMT was examined as a moderator of the relationship between mothers' depressive symptoms and children's mentalizing. Further, the unique mediating role of maternal reflective functioning (RF), relative to women's more general mentalizing abilities, in explaining these processes was explored. Participants included 106 women with children 3-6 years of age. Questionnaires and interactive tasks were used to assess the variables under study.

FINDINGS revealed that maternal depressive symptoms and histories of physical, sexual, and emotional maltreatment were all associated with impaired mentalizing in offspring; however, after controlling for each form of abuse, EMT was the only maltreatment type that remained significantly associated with children's outcomes. EMT also emerged as a significant moderator of the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and children's mentalizing, indicating that depressive symptoms only have detrimental effects on children's mentalizing when mothers' histories of EMT are high. These effects were transmitted via emotionally traumatized mothers' impairments in RF.

FINDINGS highlight the particularly pernicious effects of EMT for both survivors of abuse and their offspring and suggest that the cross-generational effects of maternal EMT are transmitted via mothers' impairments in RF. Implications for future research and parent-child interventions are discussed.

Language: en