Physically abusive and nonabusive mothers' perceptions of parenting and child behavior.

Bradley, Eleanor; Peters, Ray De V.

doi:10.1037/h0079263

Cited by 75 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous studies [23,37,44] postulated that parental psychiatric disorders may increase the risk for childhood maltreatment due to the failure of a parent with mental illness to tend to a child's needs [45,46] or because the parent-child relationship is impaired as a result of the parent's mental illness [47,48] . Our findings suggest that parental mental illness was present significantly more frequently in CG than in HG; however, it does not predict that a psychopathological condition will develop in offspring beyond the childhood maltreatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Factors That Distinguish between Clinical and Healthy Samples with Childhood Experiences of Abuse and Neglect

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Childhood maltreatment is associated with a wide range of problems in adulthood. However, specific environmental factors (either positive or negative) influence mental health outcomes in maltreated children. The present study investigated the effect of environmental factors by comparing a group of clinical participants with experiences of abuse/neglect with a healthy group with similar patterns of experiences. Environmental factors selected were: separation from parents, financial hardship, parental psychiatric disorders, and low social involvement. Method: The study included 55 mixed clinical participants and 23 healthy participants. All participants were investigated using the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) interview. The two groups were specifically matched with regard to patterns of childhood maltreatment. Results: The findings indicated that psychopathological outcome was associated with a greater presence of negative environmental factors (p < 0.001). In particular, lack of social support seemed to be the only one predictor (OR = 27.86). Conclusion: This study is the first to investigate the influence of specific environmental factors in two groups with similar childhood experiences of abuse/neglect but different mental health outcomes. These findings suggest that efforts should be made to incorporate both familial and external sources of social support in promoting mental health for maltreated children.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Factors That Distinguish between Clinical and Healthy Samples with Childhood Experiences of Abuse and Neglect

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Abundant studies indicate that physically abused children are characterized by externalizing problems such as aggression (e.g., Bolger and Patterson 2001), and abusive parents report that their children are difficult to manage (Bradley and Peters 1991). Thus it is not surprising that abusive parents tend to have elevated levels of parenting stress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Predictors of Parenting Stress for Abusive and Nonabusive Mothers

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We examined a model of parenting stress for abusive mothers (n = 80) and nonabusive mothers (n = 86) using linear regression analyses. Predictors in the model included (a) the degree to which mothers were bothered by child misbehavior, (b) mothers' general psychological functioning, and (c) observed child behavior during parentchild interactions. Whether abuse status moderated the relations between each predictor and parenting stress was also explored. Results indicated that mothers' psychological functioning significantly predicted parenting stress; however, neither mothers' intolerance for their children's misbehavior nor observed child behavior were significant predictors of parenting stress in the regression model. A test of moderation revealed a significant interaction between parental intolerance and abuse status such that intolerance predicted parenting stress level only for abusive mothers. A comparison of correlations indicated that abusive mothers' level of parenting stress was more closely related to their intolerance for child conduct problems than to the child's behavior during play with their mothers. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for interventions to reduce parenting stress experienced by nonabusive and abusive mothers.

show abstract

“…This distorted sense of power balance or blame orientation appears to be highly accessible and automatic (Bugental, Lyon, Krantz, & Cortez, 1997), and has been shown to have good validity as a predictor of maternal stress reactivity (e.g., Bugental, Lewis, Lin, Lyon, & Kopeikin, 1999;Martorell & Bugental, 2006), overreactive and harsh discipline (Lorber, O'Leary, & Kendziora, 2003), and child abuse perpetration when the target child has a difficult temperament (Bradley & Peters, 1991;Bugental & Happaney, 2000.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Little tyrants or just plain tired: Evaluating attributions for caregiving outcomes across the transition to parenthood.

Bernstein

Laurent

Measelle

et al. 2013

Journal of Family Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is now substantial evidence that parental attributions for power over negative caregiving outcomes play an important role in the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Despite the substantial research and clinical significance of this construct, and the widely held assumption that it represents a trait-like attributional style, there is a lack of empirical support for its long-term stability, especially over the transition to parenthood. The present study examined the stability of 88 at-risk women's perceived power over caregiving failure from the 3rd trimester of their 1st pregnancy to 18 months postnatal. Although results showed no significant change in overall self-reported perceived power over caregiving failure across time, subcomponents that separately assess perceived importance of adult and child factors both decreased over time, driven by increasing external attributions. Examination of subscale scores further revealed consistency in women's attributional style for their own and their child's behavior, and for positive and negative events, over time. Individual differences in these patterns suggested that past and present difficulties interfered with normative shifts such that maternal stress and history of trauma were associated with an increased sense that children control problematic events while decreasing mothers' own sense of control. Research and clinical implications are discussed.

show abstract

Physically abusive and nonabusive mothers' perceptions of parenting and child behavior.

Cited by 75 publications

References 23 publications

Environmental Factors That Distinguish between Clinical and Healthy Samples with Childhood Experiences of Abuse and Neglect

Environmental Factors That Distinguish between Clinical and Healthy Samples with Childhood Experiences of Abuse and Neglect

Predictors of Parenting Stress for Abusive and Nonabusive Mothers

Little tyrants or just plain tired: Evaluating attributions for caregiving outcomes across the transition to parenthood.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About