@article{ref1,
title="History of Childhood Abuse Is Accompanied by Increased Dissociation in Young Mothers Five Months Postnatally",
journal="Psychopathology",
year="2010",
author="Marysko, Melanie and Reck, Corinna and Mattheis, Volker and Finke, Patricia and Resch, Franz and Moehler, Eva",
volume="43",
number="2",
pages="104-109",
abstract="Background: Dissociation has been recognized as a relevant factor within the context of traumatization. Since childhood maltreatment as well as child birth can be regarded as a potential trauma, this study examined dissociation in a sample of 58 young mothers with a history of abuse in comparison to a control group. Methods: All women with newborn children were contacted by mail and presented with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Women who reached a cutoff for moderate or severe sexual and/or physical abuse and whose children were term babies with Apgar scores >7 were included in the study to form the index group (n = 58); the control group was formed by matching mothers with no reported experiences of physical and/or sexual abuse (n = 61). Dissociative experiences were assessed by the Scale of Dissociative Experiences (German version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale). Results: The results show that mothers with a history of physical or sexual abuse - matched for infant gender, maternal education, marital status, number of infants and birth weight - had significantly more dissociative experiences. Conclusions: Maternal history of abuse significantly increases maternal dissociative experiences, which has frequently been postulated but never empirically shown in a prospective design in a sample of young mothers. As maternal psychopathology has been found to have a profound impact on child development, specifically in the first year of life, these data are of immediate relevance for preventive efforts when targeting at-risk mother-infant dyads.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0254-4962",
doi="10.1159/000276999",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000276999"
}