Intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment exposure, mother-offspring relationship quality, and adult romantic attachment in emerging adults

IF 3.4 2区心理学 Q1 FAMILY STUDIES

Child Abuse & Neglect Pub Date : 2024-10-30 DOI:10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107120

Sereena Pigeon , Audrey Brassard , Rachel Langevin

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Child maltreatment (CM; sexual and physical abuse, emotional maltreatment, neglect, and exposure to intimate partner violence) is a prevalent and harmful public health problem, with severe consequences for children's physical, psychological, and social development. CM exposure has been found to recur in families, indicating intergenerational continuity, which may stem from attachment-related factors.

Objective

This study aimed to examine whether mothers' CM exposure is associated with attachment insecurity in their emerging adult offspring, through the emerging adult's CM exposure and mother-emerging adult relationship quality.

Participants and setting

A sample of 139 mother-emerging adult dyads were recruited across Canada.

Methods

Participants completed an online survey documenting CM exposure, attachment, and relationship quality. A sequential mediation model was tested.

Results

An indirect association was found for mother's CM exposure with emerging adult romantic attachment anxiety, through emerging adult's CM exposure and mother-emerging adult relationship quality (β = 0.02, p = .036), and with romantic attachment avoidance through emerging adult CM exposure alone (β = 0.03, p = .047). Findings suggest that mothers reporting greater CM exposure tended to have offspring reporting greater CM exposure, which was negatively associated with mother-emerging adult relationship quality, and in turn greater emerging adult romantic attachment insecurity.

Conclusions

Future research should replicate these findings using dyadic modeling with larger samples and longitudinal data. Policies increasing the accessibility of individual and group interventions for emerging adults and their parents who experienced CM are needed, particularly targeting interpersonal functioning, which may increase their social resources and reduce revictimization risk.

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儿童遭受虐待的代际连续性、母亲与后代的关系质量以及成年后的浪漫依恋

背景儿童虐待（CM；性虐待和身体虐待、情感虐待、忽视和亲密伴侣暴力）是一个普遍存在且有害的公共健康问题，对儿童的身体、心理和社会发展造成严重后果。本研究旨在通过新成人的 CM 暴露和母亲与新成人的关系质量，研究母亲的 CM 暴露是否与新成人后代的依恋不安全感相关。结果通过新兴成人的 CM 暴露和母亲与新兴成人的关系质量（β = 0.02，p = 0.036），发现母亲的 CM 暴露与新兴成人的浪漫依恋焦虑有间接关系；通过新兴成人的 CM 暴露，发现母亲的 CM 暴露与浪漫依恋回避有间接关系（β = 0.03，p = 0.047）。研究结果表明，母亲报告了更多的CM暴露，其后代往往也报告了更多的CM暴露，这与母亲与新成人的关系质量呈负相关，进而导致新成人的浪漫依恋更不安全。有必要制定政策，增加对经历过婚姻危机的新成人及其父母进行个人和集体干预的机会，尤其是针对人际功能的干预，这可能会增加他们的社会资源并降低再次受害的风险。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Child Abuse & Neglect Multiple-

CiteScore

7.40

自引率

10.40%

发文量

397

期刊介绍： Official Publication of the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect The International Journal, provides an international, multidisciplinary forum on all aspects of child abuse and neglect, with special emphasis on prevention and treatment; the scope extends further to all those aspects of life which either favor or hinder child development. While contributions will primarily be from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, medicine, nursing, law enforcement, legislature, education, and anthropology, the Journal encourages the concerned lay individual and child-oriented advocate organizations to contribute.