@article{ref1,
title="Childhood abuse and neglect experiences, Hostile-Helpless attachment, and reflective functioning in mentally ill filicidal mothers",
journal="Attachment and human development",
year="2020",
author="Barone, Lavinia and Carone, Nicola",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="The present study represents the first empirical investigation of the mechanisms - a Hostile-Helpless (HH) attachment and reflective functioning (RF) - through which childhood abuse and neglect (CA&N) experiences may impact a mother's likelihood to commit filicide. The sample was comprised of 46 mentally ill mothers. Differences in attachment-derived risk variables between filicidal mothers (FM) and non-filicidal mothers (NFM) were also examined. FM (<i>n</i> = 23) reported lower RF, higher HH attachment, and a more severe history of CA&N, compared to NFM (<i>n</i> = 23), but did not differ on the severity of childhood experiences of loss of and/or separation from attachment figures. Bayesian analysis indicated that the mediated effect of more severe CA&N on the likelihood of committing filicide through higher HH attachment was significantly amplified by lower RF. A developmental interpretation of filicide is proposed and clinical implications for prevention and attachment-based interventions with at-risk mother-child dyads are discussed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1461-6734",
doi="10.1080/14616734.2020.1738510",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2020.1738510"
}