Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T08:58:58.599Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mothers' physical abusiveness in a context of violence: Effects on the mother–child relationship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2012

Susan G. Timmer ,
Dianne Thompson ,
Michelle A. Culver ,
Anthony J. Urquiza  and
Shannon Altenhofen
Susan G. Timmer*
Affiliation:
University of California Davis Children's Hospital
Dianne Thompson
Affiliation:
University of California Davis Children's Hospital
Michelle A. Culver
Affiliation:
University of California Davis Children's Hospital
Anthony J. Urquiza
Affiliation:
University of California Davis Children's Hospital
Shannon Altenhofen
Affiliation:
University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Susan G. Timmer, University of California Davis CAARE Center, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mothers' physical abusiveness on the quality of the mother–child relationship, and note how it further varied by their exposure to interparental violence (IPV). The sample consisted of 232 clinic-referred children, aged 2 to 7 years, and their biological mothers. Slightly more than a quarter of the children (N = 63, 27.2%) had been physically abused by their mothers; approximately half of these children also had a history of exposure to IPV (N = 34, 54%). Investigating effects of physical abuse in the context of IPV history on mothers' and children's emotional availability, we found that physically abused children with no IPV exposure appeared less optimally emotionally available than physically abused children with an IPV exposure. However, subsequent analyses showed that although dyads with dual-violence exposure showed emotional availability levels similar those of nonabusive dyads, they were more overresponsive and overinvolving, a kind of caregiving controllingness charasteric of children with disorganized attachment styles. These findings lend some support to the notion that the effects of abuse on the parent–child relationship are influenced by the context of family violence, although the effects appear to be complex.

Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 79 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abidin, R. R. (1995). Parenting Stress Index: Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Alink, L., Cicchetti, D., Kim, J., & Rogosch, F. (2009). Mediating and moderating processes in the relation between maltreatment and psychopathology: Mother–child relationship quality and emotion regulation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 831–843.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Appel, A. E., & Holden, G. W. (1998). The co-occurrence of spouse and physical child abuse: A review and appraisal. Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 578–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumrind, D. (1994). The social context of child maltreatment. Family Relations, 43, 360–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumrind, D., Larzelere, R., & Owens, E. (2010). Effects of preschool parents' power assertive patterns and practices on aolescent development. Parenting: Science and Practice, 10, 157–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biringen, Z. (2000). Emotional availability: Conceptualization and research findings. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70, 104–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biringen, Z., Robinson, J., & Emde, R. (1998). Emotional Availability Scales (3rd ed.). Retrieved from www.emotionalavailability.com.Google Scholar
Bousha, D., & Twentyman, C. (1984). Mother–child interactional style in abuse, neglect, and control groups: Naturalistic observations in the home. Child Development, 93, 106–114.Google ScholarPubMed
Bureau, J. F., Easterbrooks, M. A., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2009). Attachment disorganization and controlling behavior in middle childhood: Maternal and child precursors and correlates. Attachment & Human Development, 11, 265–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlson, E. A. (1998). A prospective longitudinal study of disorganized/disoriented attachment. Child Development, 69, 1107–1128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1989). Disorganized/disoriented attachment relationships in maltreated infants. Developmental Psychology, 25, 525–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. (2000). Developmental processes in maltreated children. In Hansen, D. (Ed.) Nebraska symposium on motivation: Vol. 46. Motivation and child maltreatment (pp. 85–160). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. (2009). The past achievements and future promises of developmental psychopathology: The coming of age of a discipline. Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 16–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cyr, C., Euser, E., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M., & VanIJzendoorn, M. (2010). Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: A series of meta-analyses. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 87–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P., & Cummings, E. M. (1994). Marital conflict and child adjustment: An emotional security hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 387–411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P., Harold, G., Goeke-Morey, M., & Cummings, E. M. (2002). Child emotional security and interparental conflict. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 67(3, Serial No. 270).Google ScholarPubMed
DeBoard-Lucas, R., Fosco, G., Raynor, S., & Grych, J. (2010). Interparental conflict in context: Exploring relations between parenting processes and children's conflict appraisals. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 39, 163–175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Easterbrooks, M. A., Biesecker, G., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2000). Infancy predictors of emotional availability in middle childhood: The roles of attachment security and maternal depressive symptomatology. Attachment & Human Development, 2, 170–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erel, O., & Burman, B. (1995). Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent–child relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 108–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fantuzzo, J., DePaola, L., Lambert, L., Martino, T., Anderson, G., & Sutton, S. (1991). Effects of interparental violence on the psychological adjustment and competencies of young children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 258–265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grych, J., & Fincham, F. (1990). Marital conflict and children's adjustment: A cognitive–contextual framework. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 267–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grych, J., & Fincham, F. (1993). Children's appraisals of marital conflict: Initial investigations of the cognitive–contextual framework. Child Development, 64, 215–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamby, S., Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., & Ormrod, R. (2010). The overlap of witnessing partner violence with child maltreatment and other victimizations in a nationally representative survey of youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 734–741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hesse, E., & Main, M. (2006). Frightened, threatening, and dissociative parental behavior in low-risk samples: Description, discussion, and interpretations. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 309–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, H., Parkinson, D., & Vargo, M. (1989). Witnessing spouse abuse and experiencing physical abuse: A “double whammy”? Journal of Family Violence, 4, 197–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., Slep, A., Heyman, R. E., & Garrido, E. (2008). Child abuse in the context of domestic violence: Prevalence, explanations, and practice implications. Violence and Victims, 23, 221–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jurkovic, G. J. (1997). The plight of the parentified child. New York: Brunner Mazel Inc.Google Scholar
Kitzmann, K., Gaylord, N., Holt, A., & Kenny, E. (2003). Child witnesses to domestic violence: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 339–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohl, P., Edleson, J., English, D., & Barth, R. (2005). Domestic violence and pathways into child welfare services: Findings from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Child and Youth Services Review, 27, 1167–1182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolko, D. (1992). Characteristics of child victims of physical violence: Research findings and clinical implications. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 7, 244–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, A. (2004). Traumatic stress and quality of attachment: Reality and internalization in disorders of infant mental health. Infant Mental Health Journal, 25, 336–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, A., van Horn, P., & Ozer, E. (2005). Preschooler witnesses of marital violence: Predictors and mediators of child behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 385–396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Litrownik, A., Newton, R., Hunter, W., English, D., & Everson, M. (2003). Exposure to family violence in young at-risk children: A longitudinal look at the effects of victimization and witnessed physical and psychological aggression. Journal of Family Violence, 18, 59–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons-Ruth, K., Bronfman, E., & Parsons, E. (1999). Maternal frightened, frightening, or atypical behavior and disorganized infant attachment patterns. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 64, 67–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyons-Ruth, K., & Jacobvitz, D. (2008). Attachment disorganization: Genetic factors, parenting contexts, and developmental transformation from infancy to adulthood. In Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 666–697). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parent's unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized/disoriented attachment status. Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 151–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Margolin, G., Gordis, E., & Oliver, P. (2004). Links between marital and parent–child interactions: Moderating role of husband-to-wife aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 753–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moss, E., Cyr, C., & Dubois-Comtois, K. (2004). Attachment at early school age and developmental risk: Examining family contexts and behavior problems of controlling–caregiving, controlling–punitive, and behaviorally disorganized children. Developmental Psychology, 40, 519–532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patterson, G. R. (2002). The early development of coercive family processes. In Reid, J., Patterson, G., & Snyder, J. (Eds.), Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A developmental analysis and model for intervention (pp. 25–44). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Pelcovitz, D., Kaplan, S., DeRosa, R., Mandel, F., & Salzinger, S. (2000). Psychiatric disorders in adolescents exposed to domestic violence and physical abuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70, 360–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rhoades, K. (2008). Children's Responses to interparental conflict: A meta-analysis of their associations with child adjustment. Child Development, 79, 1942–1956.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1981). Stress, coping, and development: Some issues and some questions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 22, 323–356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sameroff, A. (2000). Developmental systems and psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 297–312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shen, A. (2009). Long-term effects of interparental violence and child physical maltreatment experiences on PTSD and behavior problems: A national survey of Taiwanese college students. Child Abuse & Neglect, 33, 148–160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, A., & Cicchetti, D. (1998). Reactive aggression among maltreated children: The contributions of attention and emotion dysregulation. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 381–395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Timmer, S., Ware, L., Urquiza, A., & Zebell, N. (2010). The effectiveness of parent–child interaction therapy for victims of interparental violence. Violence and Victims, 25, 486–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wahler, R., & Dumas, J. (1989). Attentional problems in dysfunctional mother–child interactions: An interbehavioral model. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 116–130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolfe, D. A. (1987). Child abuse: Implications for child development and psychopathology. Developmental clinical psychology and psychiatry (Vol. 10). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Wolfe, D. A., Crooks, C. V., Lee, V., McIntyre-Smith, A., & Jaffe, P. G. (2003). The effects of children's exposure to domestic violence: A meta-analysis and critique. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 6, 171–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed