scholarly journals A Conceptual Model of the Intergenerational Transmission of Emotion Dysregulation in Mothers with a History of Childhood Maltreatment

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-71
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Cabecinha-Alati ◽  
Rachel Langevin ◽  
Tina C. Montreuil

Objectives: Adults with a history of childhood maltreatment report problems with emotion regulation (ER) and parenting, which can contribute to maladaptive outcomes in offspring. The following narrative review consists of a theoretical and empirical synthesis of the literature examining child maltreatment, emotion regulation, and parenting, with an emphasis on parental emotion socialization. Method: Building upon the literature contained in the review, we developed a novel conceptual model that elucidates some of the mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation among mothers with a history of childhood maltreatment. Taking into account risk and protective factors (e.g., socio-economic status, polyvictimization, teenage motherhood, access to social supports), our conceptual model highlights both direct (e.g., social learning) and indirect (e.g., ER difficulties) mechanisms through which child maltreatment contributes to problems with parental emotion socialization and ER difficulties in the next generation. Implications: Directions for future research and implications for intervention will be discussed with an emphasis on preventing the continuity of maladaptive parenting by promoting the development of parents’ ER abilities in a trauma-informed, resilience-focused framework.

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 969-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emine Ahmetoglu ◽  
Gökçen Ilhan Ildiz ◽  
Ibrahim H. Acar ◽  
Amy Encinger

We examined the associations among parental emotion socialization, and children's emotion regulation and attachment to parents. In particular, we examined the moderating role of parental emotion socialization in the relationship between children's emotion regulation and attachment to parents. Participants were 78 Turkish children (49 boys) aged from 60 to 77 months and their parents. Parents reported on the socialization strategies they used for their children's emotions and on their children's emotion regulation, and we assessed children's attachment to parents via the Doll Story Completion Task. Results revealed that parents' minimization reaction to children's emotions moderated the association between children's emotion regulation and attachment to parents. When parents' response was punitive, children with poor emotion regulation displayed stronger attachment to parents than children with robust emotion regulation did. In addition, girls had a more secure attachment to parents than boys did. Our results highlight the importance of children's emotion regulation and parental emotion socialization for children's secure early attachment to parents.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 292-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Wolff ◽  
Julia Holl ◽  
Malte Stopsack ◽  
Elisabeth A. Arens ◽  
Anja Höcker ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Maltreatment in childhood and adolescence is a risk factor for substance use disorders (SUDs) in adulthood. This association has rarely been investigated in the light of emotion dysregulation. To fill this gap, this study examines emotion dysregulation and SUDs among adults with a history of early maltreatment. Methods: Comparison of emotion dysregulation in adults with a history of early abuse and neglect who developed either an SUD (n = 105) or no mental disorder (n = 54). Further, a mediation model for the association between the severity of early maltreatment and SUDs was tested. Participants completed research diagnostic interviews for psychopathology, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Results: By using hierarchical regression techniques and mediational analyses controlling for age and gender, it was possible to provide evidence for the mediating role of emotion dysregulation between early emotional and physical maltreatment and later SUDs. Conclusions: Emotion dysregulation is a potential mechanism underlying the relationship between early emotional and physical maltreatment and the development of SUDs. In light of these findings, focusing on the early training of adaptive emotion regulation strategies after childhood maltreatment might be of considerable relevance to prevent the development of SUDs.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1469
Author(s):  
Eva Rüfenacht ◽  
Eléonore Pham ◽  
Rosetta Nicastro ◽  
Karen Dieben ◽  
Roland Hasler ◽  
...  

Childhood maltreatment (CM) may have a long-term effect on emotion regulation. This study aimed to explore the relationship between CM and emotion dysregulation (ED) in a heterogeneous population. Four hundred seventy French-speaking outpatients (N = 279 ADHD, N = 70 BPD, N = 60 ADHD + BPD, N = 61 clinical controls) completed the Emotion Reactivity Scale (ERS), the Cognitive Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ). Reports of childhood maltreatment experiences were significantly associated with increased levels of emotion reactivity in all our groups and in the whole population, with a greater use of non-adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and insecure attachment patterns. Emotional abuse showed the strongest effect. Further analysis indicated that an anxious attachment style significantly mediated the relationship between CM and the use of non-adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and emotion reactivity. The results of our study suggest an impact of CM on ED and a potentially marked effect of emotional abuse. They also indicate a potentially mediating role of insecure attachment in the relationship between a history of childhood abuse and emotion reactivity and a higher use of non-adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in adulthood.


2020 ◽  
pp. 107755952097218
Author(s):  
Stephanie Milan ◽  
Christina Carlone ◽  
Destiny Printz ◽  
Sophia Dominguez Perez

Experiencing maltreatment in childhood can have a lasting impact on how individuals identify and understand emotions in others. Research in this area has not examined parents’ understanding of children’s emotions, although emotion processing deficits may be one mechanism linking childhood maltreatment to subsequent parenting problems. In a matched case-control design, we test whether mothers with ( n = 50) and without ( n = 96) childhood maltreatment differ in their understanding of children’s emotions on self-report measures and computer-based tasks. Compared to the control group, mothers who experienced maltreatment labeled more children with sad or angry emotions when given limited facial information and made different interpersonal inferences about children they labeled angry. They also reported more subjective difficulty interpreting emotions in unknown children and their own child. Results provide further evidence of emotion processing biases associated with childhood maltreatment. Interventions aimed at improving parental emotion understanding and mentalization may be particularly useful for mothers with a history of childhood maltreatment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura-Émilie Savage ◽  
George M. Tarabulsy ◽  
Jessica Pearson ◽  
Delphine Collin-Vézina ◽  
Lisa-Marie Gagné

AbstractExposure to maltreatment during childhood (CM) can have deleterious effects throughout the life span of an individual. A parent's history of child maltreatment can also impact his or her own parenting behavior. Theoretically, parents who experienced maltreatment as children may have fewer resources to cope with the challenges of childrearing and may adopt more problematic parenting behaviors. However, empirical studies examining the association between CM and later parenting behavior have yielded mixed results. The aim of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis of studies that have examined the association between exposure to CM and the subsequent parenting outcomes of mothers of 0- to 6-year-old children. A secondary aim is to examine the potential impact of both conceptual and methodological moderators. A total of 32 studies (27 samples, 41 effect sizes, 17,932 participants) were retained for analysis. Results revealed that there is a small but statistically significant association between maternal exposure to CM and parenting behavior (r = –.13, p < .05). Moderator analyses revealed that effect sizes were larger when parenting measures involved relationship-based or negative, potentially abusive behaviors, when samples had a greater number of boys compared to girls, and when studies were older versus more recent. Results are discussed as they relate to the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment and abuse.


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