Defense Mechanisms of Pregnant Mothers Predict Attachment Security, Social-Emotional Competence, and Behavior Problems in Their Toddlers

Abstract

The study findings suggest that defensive functioning in parents preparing for and parenting toddlers influences the parent-child attachment relationship and social-emotional adjustment in the earliest years of life. Possible mechanisms for these associations may include parental attunement and mentalization, as well as specific caregiving behavior toward the child. Defensive functioning during times of increased stress (such as the prenatal to postnatal period) may be especially important for understanding parental influences on the child.

The Caregiving Helplessness Questionnaire: Evidence for Validity and Utility With Mothers of Infants

“…It seems probable that mothers who are more disorganized in the caregiving role are more likely to distort their infants’ behaviors and experiences. This possibility is supported by some existing research that has shown that trauma‐exposed mothers tend to have severely distorted representations of their children (Huth‐Bocks et al., ), and in turn, distorted representations pose a risk for caregiving problems and insecure mother–infant attachment (Levendosky, Bogat, & Huth‐Bocks, ; Porcerelli, Huth‐Bocks, Huprich, & Richardson, ).…”

Defense mechanism is predicted by attachment and mediates the maladaptive influence of insecure attachment on adolescent mental health

“…Possible mechanisms discussed included parental attunement and mentalization. (Porcerelli et al 2016) A large body of research has shown that an individual's attachment style influences a range of psychological and social factors (Ravitz et al 2010), including externalizing behavior problems (Guttmann-Steinmetz and Crowell 2006), internalizing psychiatric symptoms (Esbjorn et al 2012), and emotion regulation (Esbjorn et al 2012;Gillath et al 2005;Guttmann-Steinmetz and Crowell 2006;Moutsiana et al 2014;Roque et al 2013). Insecure maternal attachment was found to be associated with depression in ADHD children.…”

Prenatal lead exposure modifies the association of maternal self-esteem with child adaptive ability

“…Mothers setting sub-optimal behavioral examples; mothers manifesting pathological defense mechanisms; children having reduced empathy to maternal distress, and genetics may be the major potential mechanisms underlying the association between maternal self-esteem and children’s future adaptive abilities (Creswell et al, 2005; Porcerelli et al, 2016; Xu et al, 2015). First, mothers with lower self-esteem are usually less likely to actively seek social support.…”

“…Mothers with lower self-esteem usually have lower ability to adaptively cope with stressors, and they therefore set a sub-optimal example for their children on how to react to conflicts and challenges in their future (Porcerelli et al, 2016). Second, the defense mechanism refers to the automatic psychological process that mediates responses to internal or external stressors (Porcerelli et al, 2016). Mothers with low self-esteem usually have pathological defense mechanisms and tend to ignore the thoughts and feelings of their children.…”

“…Early experiences, especially emotionally or affectively charged experiences with mothers, may shape children’s later development of adaptive capacity (Malekpour 2007). Previous studies have suggested that compared with mothers with low psychological functioning, mothers who responded more sensitively to children’s cues and had mother-child dyadic pleasure reacted to the needs of their children in a more accurate and attuned way, and therefore facilitated more optimal behavioral/emotional development and adaptive functioning in their children (Fenning and Baker, 2012; Laor et al, 2001; Porcerelli et al, 2016). However, until now, no studies have directly assessed the association of maternal self-esteem with child adaptive behavior.…”