Risk factors of parents abused as children: a mediational analysis of the intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment (Part I (original) (raw)
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Dixon. L., Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. & Browne, K.D. (2005). Attributions and behaviours of parents abused as children: A mediational analysis of the intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment (Part II). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 58-68
Background: This study extends previous research (Dixon, Browne, & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2004) by exploring the mediational properties of parenting styles and their relation to risk factors in the intergenerational cycle of child maltreatment. Families with newborns where at least one of the parents was physically and/or sexually abused as a child (AP families) were compared, in terms of parents’ attributions and behaviour, to families where the parents had no childhood history of victimisation (NAP families). Methods: Information was collected from 4351 families (135 AP families) by community nurses as part of the ‘health visiting’ service. The same health visitor visited each family twice at home when the child was 4 to 6 weeks and 3 to 5 months of age, to assess behavioural indicators of positive parenting. Results: Within 13 months after birth, 9 (6.7%) AP families were referred for maltreating their own child in comparison to 18 (.4%) NAP families. Assessments found a significa...
Child Development, 2011
In the interest of improving child maltreatment prevention, this prospective, longitudinal, community-based study of 499 mothers and their infants examined (a) direct associations between mothers' experiences of childhood maltreatment and their offspring's maltreatment, and (b) mothers' mental health problems, social isolation, and social information processing patterns (hostile attributions and aggressive response biases) as mediators of these associations. Mothers' childhood physical abuse-but not neglect-directly predicted offspring victimization. This association was mediated by mothers' social isolation and aggressive response biases. Findings are discussed in terms of specific implications for child maltreatment prevention. Child maltreatment is a serious public health problem, most urgently for infants and toddlers. In the United States in 2006, 905,000 children, more than 12 of every 1,000 (1.2%) were identified as victims of abuse or neglect (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [US DHHS], 2008). Victimization rates among children between birth and age 1 were twice as high (2.4%). Female parents (typically biological mothers), acting alone or with another, perpetrated 64% of child abuse and neglect cases (US DHHS, 2008). The most common pattern of maltreatment (40% of cases) was a child victimized by a female parent acting alone. Child maltreatment not only results in acute physical injuries but also predicts later substance use problems (
Patterns of Risk and Protective Factors in the Intergenerational Cycle of Maltreatment
Journal of Family Violence, 2008
This study investigates the continuation and discontinuation of the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment within the first year of the child's life. Differences in risk factors and parenting styles between families who initiate (Initiators), maintain (Maintainers) or break (Cycle Breakers) the intergenerational cycle of child maltreatment are explored in comparison to control families (Controls). One hundred and three Health Visitors were trained to assess risk factors and parenting styles of 4,351 families, at both 4-6 weeks and 3-5 months after birth. Maintainers, Initiators and Cycle Breakers had a significantly higher prevalence for the majority of risk factors and poor parenting styles than Controls. Protective factors of financial solvency and social support distinguished Cycle Breakers from Maintainers and Initiators. Therefore, it is the presence of protective factors that distinguish Cycle Breakers from families who were referred to Child Protection professionals in the first year after birth. A conceptual, hierarchical model that considers history of abuse, risk and protective factors, in turn, is proposed to assess families for the potential of child maltreatment.
Journal of Adolescent Health, 2013
Purpose: To identify contextual and interpersonal factors that distinguish families in which the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment is maintained from families in which the cycle is broken. Methods: The sample was composed of 1,116 families in the United Kingdom who participated in the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study. We assessed mother's childhood history of maltreatment retrospectively with a validated and reliable interview. Prospective reports of children's physical maltreatment were collected repeatedly up to 12 years. We compared families in which mothers but not children had experienced maltreatment with families in which both mothers and children had experienced maltreatment, and with families without maltreatment, on a range of contextual and interpersonal factors known to affect child development. Results: In multivariate analyses, supportive and trusting relationships with intimate partners, high levels of maternal warmth toward children, and low levels of partner violence between adults distinguished families in which mothers but not children experienced maltreatment from families in which mothers and children experienced maltreatment. Families in which only mothers experienced maltreatment were largely similar to families in which neither generation experienced maltreatment, except that mothers belonging to the former group were more likely to have a lifetime history of depression and low levels of social support. Conclusions: Safe, stable, nurturing relationships between intimate partners and between mothers and children are associated with breaking the cycle of abuse in families. Additional research is needed to determine whether these factors have a causal role in preventing the transmission of maltreatment from one generation to the next.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2021
Background: Child maltreatment poses substantial risk for compromised mental health in children. Further, child abuse and neglect are potentiated within a cascade of intergenerational and current familial risk processes that require clarification to inform understanding of adverse outcomes and direct prevention and intervention efforts. Objective: Using a multi-informant design, the current study applied an intergenerational cascades approach to examine the interconnected pathways among several familial risk factors associated with child maltreatment and its consequences. Participants: Participants were 378 children (aged 10-12) and their mothers from economically disadvantaged, ethnically diverse backgrounds. The sample included maltreated children recruited via CPS records and demographically comparable non-maltreated children. Methods: Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test sequential mediation pathways examining the independent and cascading effects of maternal history of childhood maltreatment, maternal adolescent childbearing, current maternal depression, and the child's lifetime history of maltreatment on the child's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results: Multigenerational developmental cascades were identified. Maternal history of maltreatment predicted chronic maltreatment for offspring, which in turn predicted greater internalizing (β = .167, p = .03) and externalizing symptoms (β = .236, p = .005) in late childhood. Similarly, children born to mothers who began childbearing in adolescence were more likely to experience chronic maltreatment during childhood and develop subsequent symptoms. Effects were found over and above a parallel cascade from maternal maltreatment to offspring psychopathology via a maternal depression pathway. Conclusion: Findings reveal targets to prevent or ameliorate progressions of intergenerational risk pathways.
Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53, 2016
The objectives of this study were to examine whether a maternal history of maltreatment in childhood has a detrimental impact on young children's mental health and to test theoretically and empirically informed pathways by which maternal history may influence child mental health. Mother-child dyads (N = 187) were evaluated between birth and 64 months of age via home and laboratory observations, medical and child protection record reviews, and maternal interviews to assess maternal history of childhood maltreatment and microsystem and exosystem measures of the caregiving context, including child maltreatment, maternal caregiving quality, stress exposures, and social support. When the children were 7 years of age, mothers and teachers reported on child emotional and behavioral problems. Analyses examined whether the caregiving context variables linked maternal maltreatment history with child emotional and behavioral problems, controlling for child sex (54% male), race/ethnicity (6...