Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:03:42.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Intergenerational continuity/discontinuity of child maltreatment among low-income mother–child dyads: The roles of childhood maltreatment characteristics, maternal psychological functioning, and family ecology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2019

Diane St-Laurent ,
Karine Dubois-Comtois ,
Tristan Milot  and
Michael Cantinotti
Diane St-Laurent*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
Karine Dubois-Comtois
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Child Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic and Research Center, CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
Tristan Milot
Affiliation:
Department of Psychoeducation, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
Michael Cantinotti
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
*
Author for correspondence: Diane St-Laurent, Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, C.P. 500, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada, G9A 5H7; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite evidence of some intergenerational continuity of maltreatment, a notable proportion of parents maltreated in childhood do not perpetuate the cycle of maltreatment. The aim of this study was to identify factors that would distinguish mother–child dyads where intergenerational continuity was present from dyads characterized by intergenerational discontinuity. The sample included 193 children and their mothers, drawn from two populations: 74 maltreated children recruited through Child Protection Services and 119 nonmaltreated children recruited among low-income families. Factors investigated included maternal childhood maltreatment, psychological functioning, and family ecology. Compared to maltreated mothers who broke the cycle of maltreatment, those who perpetuated the cycle were more likely to have experienced childhood physical neglect and multitype maltreatment, and to experience sociodemographic risk, intimate partner violence, and lack of family support. Compared to nonmaltreated mothers who maintained a nonmaltreating child-rearing environment: (a) maltreated mothers who broke the cycle were more likely to experience residential instability and lack of family support, and (b) nonmaltreated mothers whose child was maltreated were more likely to experience sociodemographic risk and lack of family support. Maternal psychological functioning did not discriminate maltreatment groups. Lending empirical support to a diathesis-stress model of poor parenting, these findings suggest that family-ecology related stress, but not maternal psychological difficulties, may create additional burden that will precipitate the risk of maltreatment intergenerational continuity.

Keywords

family ecologyintergenerational continuitylow-incomemaltreatmentpsychological functioning
Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 31 , Special Issue 1: The effect of maltreatment experiences on maltreating and dysfunctional parenting: A search for mechanisms , February 2019 , pp. 189 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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.)

Footnotes

This research was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (to D.S.).

We thank the numerous students involved in data collection, John Black for his invaluable suggestions, Cindy Tessier for her expert technical support, and the families for their generous participation.

References

Abidin, R. R. (1995). Parenting Stress Index. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Alhusen, J. L., Ho, G. W. K., Smith, K. F., & Campbell, J. C. (2014). Addressing intimate partner violence and child maltreatment: Challenges and opportunities. In Korbin, J. E. & Krugman, R. D. (Eds.), Handbook of child maltreatment (pp. 187–201). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Baer, R. A., & Miller, J. (2002). Underreporting of psychopathology on the MMPI-2: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Assessment, 14, 16. doi:10.1037//1040-3590.14.1.16Google Scholar
Bartlett, J. D., & Easterbrooks, M. A. (2015). The moderating effect of relationships on intergenerational risk for infant neglect by young mothers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 45, 21–34. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.02.018Google Scholar
Belsky, J. (1993). Etiology of child maltreatment: A developmental-ecological analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 413–434. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.114.3.413Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Conger, R., & Capaldi, D. M. (2009). The intergenerational transmission of parenting: Introduction to the Special Section. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1201–1204. doi:10.1037/a0016245Google Scholar
Ben-David, V., Jonson-Reid, M., Drake, B., & Kohl, P. (2015). The association between childhood maltreatment experiences and the onset of maltreatment perpetration in young adulthood controlling for proximal and distal risk factors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 46, 132–141. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.01.013Google Scholar
Berger, L. M., & Waldfogel, J. (2011). Economic determinants and consequences of child maltreatment. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 111. Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Bernstein, D. P., & Fink, L. (1998). Childhood Trauma Questionnaire: A retrospective self-report. Manual. Chicago, IL: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Berzenski, S. R., Yates, T. M., & Egeland, B. (2014). A multidimensional view of continuity in intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. In Korbin, J. E. & Krugman, R. D. (Eds.), Handbook of child maltreatment (pp. 115–129). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Boeckel, M. G., Viola, T. W., Daruy-Filho, L., Martinez, M., & Grassi-Oliveira, R. (2017). Intimate partner violence is associated with increased maternal hair cortisol in mother-child dyads. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 72, 18–24. doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2016.09.006Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In Damon, W. & Lerner, R. M. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 793–828). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Carlson, E. B., & Putnam, F. W. (1993). An update on the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Dissociation, 6, 16–27.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Lynch, M. (1993). Toward an ecological/transactional model of community violence and child maltreatment: Consequences for children's development. Psychiatry, 56, 96–118.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Daley, D., Bachmann, M., Bachmann, B. A., Pedigo, C., Bui, M. T., & Coffman, J. (2016). Risk terrain modeling predicts child maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 62, 29–38. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.09.014Google Scholar
Derogatis, L. R. (1994). SCL-90-R: Administration, scoring, and procedures manual (3rd ed.). Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems.Google Scholar
Derogatis, L. R., & Lazarus, L. (1994). SCL–90–R, Brief Symptom Inventory, and matching clinical rating scales. In Edward, M. E. (Ed.), The use of psychological testing for treatment planning and outcome assessment (pp. 217–248). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Dixon, L., Browne, K., & Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. (2009). Patterns of risk and protective factors in the intergenerational cycle of maltreatment. Journal of Family Violence, 24, 111–122. doi:10.1007/s10896-008-9215-2Google Scholar
Drake, B., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2014). Poverty and child maltreatment. In Korbin, J. E. & Krugman, R. D. (Eds.), Handbook of child maltreatment (pp. 131–148). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
DuMont, K. A., Widom, C. S., & Czaja, S. J. (2007). Predictors of resilience in abused and neglected children grown-up: The role of individual and neighborhood characteristics. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 255–274. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.11.015Google Scholar
Egeland, B., Bosquet, M., & Chung, A. L. (2002). Continuities and discontinuities in the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment: Implications for breaking the cycle of abuse. In Browne, K., Hanks, H., Stratton, P., & Hamilton, C. (Eds.), Early prediction and prevention of child abuse: A handbook (pp. 217–232). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1988). Breaking the cycle of abuse. Child Development, 59, 1080–1088. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1988.tb03260.xGoogle Scholar
Egeland, B., & Susman-Stillman, A. (1996). Dissociation as a mediator of child abuse across generations. Child Abuse & Neglect, 20, 1123–1132. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(96)00102-0Google Scholar
Enns, M. W., Larsen, D., & Cox, B. J. (2000). Discrepancies between self and observer ratings of depression: The relationship to demographic, clinical and personality variables. Journal of Affective Disorders, 60, 33–41. doi:10.1016/S0165-0327(99)00156-1Google Scholar
Geiger, J. M., Schelbe, L., Hayes, M. J., Kawam, E., Katz, C. C., & Klika, J. B. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of maltreatment: Ending a family tradition. In Daron, D., Donnelly, A. C., Huang, L. A., & Powell, B. J. (Eds.), Advances in child abuse prevention knowledge (pp. 67–91). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Gilbert, R., Widom, C., Browne, K., Fergusson, D., Webb, E., & Janson, S. (2009). Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. Lancet, 373, 68–81. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61706-7Google Scholar
Henly, J. R. (2002). Informal support networks and the maintenance of low-wage jobs. In Munger, F. (Ed.), Laboring below the line: The new ethnography of poverty, low-wage work, and survival in the global economy (pp. 179–203). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Henly, J. R., Danziger, S. K., & Offer, S. (2005). The contribution of social support to the material well-being of low-income families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 122–140. doi:10.1111/j.0022-2445.2005.00010.xGoogle Scholar
Herrenkohl, R. C., & Herrenkohl, T. I. (2009). Assessing a child's experience of multiple maltreatment types: Some unfinished business. Journal of Family Violence, 24, 485–496. doi:10.1007/s10896-009-9247-2Google Scholar
Jaffee, S. R., Bowes, L., Ouellet-Morin, I., Fisher, H. L., Moffitt, T. E., Merrick, M. T., & Arseneault, L. (2013). Safe, stable, nurturing relationships break the intergenerational cycle of abuse: A prospective nationally representative cohort of children in the United Kingdom. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53, S4–S10. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.04.007Google Scholar
Kang, J. (2013). Instrumental social support, material hardship, personal control and neglectful parenting. Children and Youth Services Review, 35, 1366–1373. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.05.009Google Scholar
Kull, M. A., Coley, R. L., & Lynch, A. D. (2016). The roles of instability and housing in low-income families’ residential mobility. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 37, 422–434. doi:10.1007/s10834-015-9465-0Google Scholar
Leifer, M., Kilbane, T., & Kalick, S. (2004). Vulnerability or resilience to intergenerational sexual abuse: The role of maternal factors. Child Maltreatment, 9, 78–91. doi:10.1177/1077559503261181Google Scholar
Li, F., Godinet, M. T., & Arnsberger, P. (2011). Protective factors among families with children at risk of maltreatment: Follow up to early school years. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 139–148. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.08.026Google Scholar
Madigan, S., Cyr, C., Fearon, R. M. P., Eirich, R., Ly, A., Poole, J., … Alink, L. (2019). Testing the cycle of maltreatment hypothesis: Meta-analytic evidence of the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Development and Psychopathology, 31,Google Scholar
Maughan, A., & Cicchetti, D. (2002). Impact of child maltreatment and interadult violence on children's emotion regulation abilities and socioemotional adjustment. Child Development, 73, 1525–1542. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00488Google Scholar
McDaniel, M., & Slack, K. S. (2005). Major life events and the risk of a child maltreatment investigation. Children and Youth Services Review, 27, 171–195. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2004.08.015Google Scholar
Moss, E., Dubois-Comtois, K., Cyr, C., Tarabulsy, G. M., St-Laurent, D., & Bernier, A. (2011). Efficacy of a home-visiting intervention aimed at improving maternal sensitivity, child attachment, and behavioral outcomes for maltreated children: A randomized control trial. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 195–210. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000738Google Scholar
Nicklas, E., & Mackenzie, M. J. (2013). Intimate partner violence and risk for child neglect during early childhood in a community sample of fragile families. Journal of Family Violence, 28, 17–29. doi:10.1007/s10896-012-9491-8Google Scholar
Niu, H., Liu, L., & Wang, M. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of harsh discipline: The moderating role of parenting stress and parent gender. Child Abuse & Neglect, 79, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.01.017Google Scholar
Pears, K. C., & Capaldi, D. M. (2001). Intergenerational transmission of abuse: A two-generational prospective study of an at-risk sample. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 1439–1461. doi:10.1016/S0145-2134(01)00286-1Google Scholar
Phelps, J. L., Belsky, J., & Crnic, K. (1998). Earned security, daily stress, and parenting: A comparison of five alternative models. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 21–38. doi:10.1017/S0954579498001515Google Scholar
Reitman, D., Currier, R. O., & Stickle, T. R. (2002). A critical evaluation of the Parenting Stress Index–Short Form (PSI-SF) in a Head Start population. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 384–392. doi:10.1207/S15374424JCCP3103_10Google Scholar
Sarason, I. G., Johnson, J. H., & Siegel, J. M. (1978). Assessing the impact of life changes: Development of the Life Experiences Survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 932–946. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.46.5.932Google Scholar
Sedlak, A. J., Mettenburg, J., Basena, M., Petta, I., McPherson, K., Greene, A., & Li, S. (2010). Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS–4): Report to Congress, Executive Summary. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.Google Scholar
Sidebotham, P., Heron, J., Golding, J., & ALSPAC Study Team, (2002). Child maltreatment in the “Children of the Nineties”: Deprivation, class, and social networks in a UK sample. Child Abuse & Neglect, 26, 1243–1259. doi:10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00415-5Google Scholar
Stith, S. M., Liu, T., Davies, L. C., Boykin, E. L., Alder, M. C., Harris, J. M., … Dees, J. E. M. E. G. (2009). Risk factors in child maltreatment: A meta-analytic review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 14, 13–29. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2006.03.006Google Scholar
Straus, M. A., Hamby, S., Boney-McCoy, S., & Sugarman, D. B. (1996). The revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2): Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283–316. doi:10.1177/019251396017003001Google Scholar
Taylor, C. A., Guterman, N. B., Lee, S. J., & Rathouz, P. J. (2009). Intimate partner violence, maternal stress, nativity, and risk for maternal maltreatment of young children. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 175–183. doi:10.2105/ AJPH.2007.126722Google Scholar
Thornberry, T. P., Henry, K. L., Smith, C. A., Ireland, T. O., Greenman, S. J., & Lee, R. D. (2013). Breaking the cycle of maltreatment: The role of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53, S25–S31. doi:10.1016/ j.jadohealth.2013.04.019Google Scholar
Thornberry, T. P., Knight, K. E., & Lovegrove, P. J. (2012). Does maltreatment beget maltreatment? A systematic review of the intergenerational literature. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 13, 135–152. doi:10.1177/1524838012447697Google Scholar
Tracy, M., Salo, M., & Appleton, A. A. (2018). The mitigating effects of maternal support and paternal involvement on the intergenerational transmission of violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 78, 46–59. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.09.023Google Scholar
Trocmé, N., Fallon, B., MacLaurin, B., Sinha, V., Black, T., Fast, E., … Holyroyd, J. (2010). Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2008 (CIS-2008). Ottawa, ON: Public Health Agency of Canada.Google Scholar
Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B., Fallon, B., Daciuk, J., Billingsley, D., Tourigny, M., … McKenzie, B. (2001). Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect. Ottawa, ON: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada.Google Scholar
Valentino, K., Nuttall, A. K., Comas, M., Borkowski, J. G., & Akai, C. E. (2012). Intergenerational continuity of child abuse among adolescent mothers: Authoritarian parenting, community violence, and race. Child Maltreatment, 17, 172–181. doi:10.1177/1077559511434945Google Scholar
van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Schuengel, C. (1996). The measurement of dissociation in normal and clinical populations: Meta-analytic validation of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Clinical Psychology Review, 16, 365–382. doi:10.1016/0272-7358(96)00006-2Google Scholar
Van Scoyoc, A., Wilen, J. S., Daderko, K., & Miyamoto, S. (2015). Multiple aspects of maltreatment: Moving toward a holistic framework. In Daron, D., Donnelly, A. C., Huang, L. A., & Powell, B. J. (Eds.), Advances in child abuse prevention knowledge (pp. 21–41). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Widom, C. S., Czaja, S., & Dutton, M. A. (2014). Child abuse and neglect and intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration: A prospective investigation. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38, 650–663. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.11.004Google Scholar
Wu, S. S., Ma, C., Carter, R. L., Ariet, M., Feaver, E. A., Resnick, M. B., & Roth, J. (2004). Risk factors for infant maltreatment: A population-based study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 28, 1253–1264. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.07.005Google Scholar