Objective: The aim of the current study was to investigate associations, unique and interactive, between mothers’ and children’s histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and children’s psychiatric outcomes using an intergenerational perspective. Further, we were particularly interested in examining whether maternal reflective functioning about their own trauma (T-RF) was associated with a lower likelihood of children’s abuse exposure (among children of CSA-exposed mothers). Methods: One hundred and eleven children ( M age = 9.53 years; 43 sexual abuse victims) and their mothers ( M age = 37.99; 63 sexual abuse victims) participated in this study. Mothers completed the Parent Development Interview (PDI), which yielded assessments of RF regarding their own experiences of abuse, and also reported on their children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results: Children of CSA-exposed mothers were more likely to have experienced CSA. A key result was that among CSA-exposed mothers, higher maternal T-RF regarding their own abuse was associated with lower likelihood of child CSA-exposure. Mothers’ and children’s CSA histories predicted children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms, such that CSA exposure for mother or child was associated with greater symptomatology in children. Conclusion: The findings show that the presence of either maternal or child CSA is associated with more child psychological difficulties. Importantly in terms of identifying potential protective factors, maternal T-RF is associated with lower likelihood of CSA exposure in children of CSA-exposed mothers. We discuss these findings in the context of the need for treatments focusing on increasing T-RF in mothers and children in the context of abuse to facilitate adaptation and reduce the intergenerational risk.

Parental child-focused reflective functioning (RF)-understanding children's behavior as a function of mental states-and parental empathy-understanding, resonating with, and feeling concern for children's emotions-have each been linked to sensitive caregiving and children's attachment security in separate studies, but they have been neither directly compared nor have researchers tested whether they interact in predicting child outcomes. In this article, we offer theoretical perspectives regarding differences between the constructs, potential points of connection, and ways in which these constructs may function together. Then we test these ideas empirically with 2 samples of mothers of school-age children, exploring their unique and interactive associations with parenting sensitivity, children's attachment security, and children's emotion regulation. In Study 1, mothers (N ϭ 105) watched their children completing a stressor task (i.e., an impossible puzzle); mothers then answered interview questions, from which separate teams coded state-like RF and empathy. In Study 2, mothers (N ϭ 72) completed the Parent Development Interview, coded separately for trait-like parental RF and empathy. Results of the 2 studies converged, revealing moderate positive associations between parental RF and empathy. Further, both RF and empathy were positively associated with specific child outcomes (e.g., attachment security); also, there were unique patterns of association (e.g., parental empathy was uniquely associated with child physiological regulation [neuroendocrine reactivity]) and evidence that critical levels of both are important (e.g., for supportive parenting, accuracy of emotion judgment). Parental RF and empathy might be related to each other and to distinguishable capacities that contribute to attachment and related outcomes.

Reflective functioning (RF) is a construct that has gained tremendous traction in the developmental psychology literature, demonstrating robust associations with parent–child attachment and interactional quality. Although theorists argue that RF should have meaningful links with relationship quality across the life span, to date this construct has not been applied to the study of adult romantic partnerships. The goal of the present investigation is to introduce the construct of Partner RF, the capacity to reflect on the thoughts and feelings of one’s partner and to consider their roles in guiding behavior in one’s partner and oneself. Next, we explore the degree to which Partner RF is associated with a range of theoretically related constructs—one’s partner’s Partner RF, as well as one’s own parental RF, attachment, relationship satisfaction, and coparenting—in first-time parents. In a longitudinal study of N = 107 primiparous couples, we found positive associations between mothers’ and fathers’ Partner RF and between mother’s Partner RF and their parental RF. Partner RF is higher among women who report lower prenatal attachment avoidance and demonstrate more prenatal positive communication with their partners. Counterintuitively, higher levels of maternal Partner RF predict greater decreases in couple and coparenting satisfaction across the transition to parenthood. Partner RF may be an important construct to measure and understand in terms of its role in couple relationship functioning and parental well-being.

Individuals exposed to aggression and who perpetrate aggression against others show differences in their physiological activation during stress; the goal of the present study is to investigate physiological stress reactivity as a factor contributing to the intergenerational transmission of aggression. To test associations between family-of-origin aggression (FOA), physiological reactivity in daily life, and dating aggression perpetration, we used ecological momentary assessment to monitor fluctuations in young adult (M age = 23.1 years) dating couples' electrodermal activity (EDA) over an entire day and examined how naturally-occurring bouts of annoyance between partners relate to EDA, FOA, and dating aggression perpetration. Dating perpetration was linked to lower general levels of EDA in both men and women, while FOA was linked to lower general levels of EDA in men only. For women, multi-group, multilevel models showed that FOA and dating aggression perpetration moderated the association between feeling annoyed and EDA, such that those with greater FOA and dating aggression perpetration showed greater EDA reactivity during naturally-occurring relationship stress. Furthermore, this pattern of EDA reactivity mediated the link between FOA and dating aggression perpetration in women. These results provide evidence that FOA and dating aggression perpetration are linked to patterns of physiological responsivity in everyday life and suggest that these patterns could be important factors contributing to the intergenerational transmission of aggression.