TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - Caregiver traumatization adversely impacts young children's mental representations on the MacArthur Story Stem Battery
JO  - Attachment and human development
A1  - Schechter, Daniel S.
A1  - Zygmunt, Annette
A1  - Coates, Susan W.
A1  - Davies, Mark
A1  - Trabka, Kimberly A.
A1  - McCaw, Jaime
A1  - Kolodji, Ann
A1  - Robinson, Joann L.
SP  - 187
EP  - 205
VL  - 9
IS  - 3
N2  - The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of maternal exposure to family violence, maltreatment, and related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on young children's mental representations of self and caregivers. Participant mothers (n = 24) and children (n = 25) were recruited from a referred sample when they were 4 – 7 years old. Maternal report and child story stem narratives were used. Mothers' experience of domestic violence and severity of violence-related PTSD symptoms robustly predicted more dysregulated aggression, attentional bias to danger and distress, as well as more avoidance of and withdrawal from conflicts presented in the children's story stems. Less narrative coherence was also noted. Traumatized mothers experience and symptoms prior to their child's turning 4 years old adversely affected their child's mental representations from ages 4 – 7 years.<p />
LA  - 
SN  - 1461-6734
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616730701453762
ID  - ref1
ER  -