Re-examining the “cycle of abuse”: Parenting determinants among previously maltreated, low-income mothers.

Abstract

Multidomain approaches toward understanding the transmission of harsh caregiving across generations have been largely overlooked in the literature. To address this, the current study examined how maternal and child factors may operate as mediating mechanisms in the association between maternal history of child maltreatment and maternal caregiving behaviors. In particular, we tested the relative roles of maternal depression, maternal efficacy beliefs, and child behavioral difficulties as explanatory variables in these associations. Participants (N = 127) were drawn from a community sample of mother-child dyads from socioeconomically disadvantaged, ethnically diverse backgrounds. Mother-child dyads were assessed at baseline, when the children were approximately 12 months old, with follow-up visits occurring when children were 26 and 37 months of age. Findings did not support a significant direct effect of childhood maltreatment on mothers’ subsequent harsh or responsive parenting behavior. However, analyses demonstrated a significant indirect effect of childhood maltreatment history on later responsive parenting behaviors via maternal depression. Results also supported a significant indirect effect of childhood maltreatment history on later harsh parenting behavior through child behavior problems. Although mothers’ childhood maltreatment history significantly predicted lower levels of maternal efficacy, results did not support a mediating role of maternal efficacy beliefs in the association between maltreatment history and subsequent parenting behaviors. Identifying specific factors that potentially disrupt the intergenerational pattern of maladaptive parenting can serve to guide prevention and intervention efforts aimed at facilitating more positive, responsive parenting strategies within high-risk families.

Intergenerational Transmission of Abusive Parenting: Role of Prospective Maternal Distress and Family Violence

“…Mothers experiencing depressive symptoms are in turn more likely to draw on a range of harsh caregiving strategies and cognitions, including psychological aggression (Kuckertz et al, 2018), harsh and aggressive discipline (Field, 2010;Villodas et al, 2015), thoughts of harming the child (Jennings et al, 1999), and, at the severe end of the parenting spectrum, abusive and assaultive parenting behavior (Egeland et al, 1988;Thompson, 2006). A handful of studies have supported maternal depression as a significant mediator in the intergenerational transmission of abusive parenting (Choi et al, 2019;Dixon et al, 2005;Michl-Petzing et al, 2019;Smith et al, 2014;Yang et al, 2018), with only one exception to our knowledge (Berlin et al, 2011).…”

The interplay of childhood maltreatment and maternal depression in relation to the reward positivity in youth

“…Indeed, parenting styles have been shown to moderate links between maternal history of depression and RewP response in youth (Kujawa, Proudfit, Laptook, & Klein, 2015). Interestingly, despite documented significant relations between parental maltreatment, parenting styles, and depression history (Kaplan, Sunday, Labruna, Pelcovitz, & Salzinger, 2009; Michl-Petzing, Handley, Sturge-Apple, Cicchetti, & Toth, 2019), the current study did not observe a correlation between maternal depression history and childhood maltreatment, which may be attributed to the inclusion of a community sample of youth versus a more severe sample of families involved in Childhood Protective Services. Alternatively, other work suggests that maternal depression does not independently predict maltreatment or negative parenting practices, rather in many cases there are other moderating variables (e.g., child characteristics and psychopathology, maternal aggression) that play a role in these associations (Frye & Garber, 2005; Hentges et al, 2021; Sellers et al, 2014).…”

Maternal parentification history impacts evaluative cognitions about self, parenting, and child

“…Parentification and childhood sexual and/or physical abuse often co‐occur (Macfie et al., 1999) and, in extreme cases, parentification may constitute a form of child maltreatment (Jurkovic, 1997). Maternal maltreatment is associated with negative maternal evaluative cognitions about the self, including low parenting self‐efficacy (Michl‐Petzing et al., 2019). Moreover, internalizing psychopathology is a primary outcome of parentification (Hooper et al., 2011).…”