Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:09:41.818Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relations between early maltreatment and mental representations of relationships assessed with projective storytelling in middle childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Edward R. McCrone ,
Byron Egeland ,
Mark Kalkoske  and
Elizabeth A. Carlson
Edward R. McCrone
Affiliation:
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Byron Egeland*
Affiliation:
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Mark Kalkoske
Affiliation:
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Elizabeth A. Carlson
Affiliation:
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Byron Egeland, University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development, 51 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0345.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Children who participate in the Mother-Child Project, a longitudinal study of high-risk children, were giver projective storytelling task during their sixth-grade year. Story sets were coded for relationship themes like peer acceptance and problem solving, and responses were compared between groups identified based on pas maltreatment. The maltreatment group included 43 children who were identified as having been physically abused, sexually abused, or neglected or having psychologically unavailable care. A control group of 53 children from this high-risk sample was identified as having received adequate care. The remaining participants whose care was questionable were not included in this study. Based on quantitative analyses using a factor measuring relationship expectations and controlling for IQ and socioeconoraic status, the maltreate group told stories significantly more negative compared to the control group. Findings are introduced and discussed in terms of attachment theory and related work addressing the mental representations of maltreated children. In particular, it is proposed that, based on early maltreatment experiences, children acquire internal working models of themselves as unworthy and of others as unavailable. In subsequent relationship situations they would be constricted in cognitively processing events, have difficulty regulating their own emotions, an employ processes of defensive exclusion (e.g. projection, introjection, displacement, splitting, preoccupatioi idealization) to manage their distress feelings.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Winter 1994 , pp. 99 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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

Aber, J. L., & Allen, J. P. (1987). Effects of maltreatment on young children's socioemotional development: An attachment theory perspective. Developmental Psychology, 23, 406–414.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1967). Infancy in Uganda: Infant care and the growth of love. Baltimore. MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1980). Attachment and child abuse. In Gerber, G., Ross, C. J., & Zigler, E. (Eds.), Child abuse reconsidered: An agenda for action. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bellak, L. (1986). The T.A.T., C.A.T. and S.A.T. in clinical use (4th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Bellak, L., & Adelman, C. (1960). The Children's Apperception Test. In Rabin, A. I. & Haworth, M. R. (Eds.), Projective techniques with children. New York: Crime & Stratton.Google Scholar
Block, J. (1961/1978). The Q-sort method in personality assessment and psychiatric research. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. I. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. II. Separation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Vol. III. Loss. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1982). Violence in the family as a disorder of the attachment and caregiving systems. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 44, 9–27, 29–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brassard, M. R., & Gelardo, M. S. (1987). Psychological maltreatment: The unifying construct in child abuse and neglect. School Psychology Review, 16, 127–136.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1985). Attachment theory: Retrospect and prospect. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points in attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209), 3–35.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1987). New perspectives on attachment relations: Security, communication, and internal working models. In Osofsky, J. (Ed.), Handbook of infant development (2nd ed., pp. 1061–1100). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1990). Open communication and internal working models: Their role in the development of attachment relationships. In Thompson, R. A. (Ed.), Socioemotional development: Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1988 (pp. 57–113). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Buchsbaum, H. K., Toth, S. L., Clyman, R. B., Cicchetti, D., & Emde, R. N. (1992). The use of narrative story stem technique with maltreated children: Implications for theory and practice. Development and Psychopathology, 4, 603–625.Google Scholar
Carlson, E. A., McCrone, E. R., & Loewen, G. R. (1991). Rating scales for projective stories of youth. Unpublished manuscript, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1989). Disorganized/disoriented attachment relationships in maltreated infants. Developmental Psychology, 25, 525–531.Google Scholar
Cassidy, J. (1993, 03). Emotion regulation within attachment relationships. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Cassidy, J., & Kobak, R. R. (1988). Avoidance and its relation to other defensive processes. In Belsky, J. & Nezworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 300–323). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Christoffel, K. K., Scheidt, P. C., Agran, P. F., Kraus, J. F., McLoughlin, E., & Paulson, J. A. (1992). Standard definitions for childhood injury research: Excerpts from a conference report. Pediatrics, 89, 1027–1034.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D. (1990). The organization and coherence of socioemotional, cognitive, and representational development: Illustrations through a developmental psychopathology perspective on Down syndrome and child maltreatment. In Thompson, R. A. (Ed.), Social Development: Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1988 (pp. 259–266). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Barnett, D. (1991). Toward the development of a scientific nosology of child maltreatment. In Cicchetti, D. & Grove, W. (Eds.), Thinking clearly about psychology: Essays in honor of Paul E. Meehl (pp. 346–377). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Ganiban, J., & Barnett, D. (1991). Contributions from the study of high risk populations to understanding the development of emotion regulation. In Garber, J. & Dodge, K. A. (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation (pp. 15–48). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rizley, R. (1981). Developmental perspectives on the etiology, intergenerational transmission, and sequelae of child maltreatment. In Cicchetti, D. & Rizley, R. (Eds.), New directions for child development: Developmental perspectives on maltreatment, 11, 31–56. San Francisco, CA: Jos-sey-Bass.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Toth, S. L., & Hennessy, K. (1989). Research on the consequences of child maltreatment and its application to educational settings. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 9, 33–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Toth, S. L., & Lynch, M. (in press). The developmental sequelae of maltreatment: Implications for war-related trauma. In Leavitt, L. A. & Fox, N. A. (Eds.), Psychological effects of war and violence on children. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cohen, H., & Weil, G. R. (1971). Tasks of emotional development: A projective test for children and adolescents. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1985). Maltreated infants: Vulnerability and resilience. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 85–96.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1988). Relationships at risk. In Belsky, J. & Nezworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment theory (pp. 136–174). Hills-dale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1992). Quality of attachment in the preschool years. Developmental Psychopathology, 4, 209–241.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M., & Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1989). Child maltreatment and attachment theory. In Cicchetti, D. & Carlson, V. (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 432–463). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dean, A. L., Malik, M. M., Richards, W., & Stringer, S. A. (1986). Effects of parental maltreatment on children's conceptions of interpersonal relationships. Developmental Psychology, 22, 617–626.Google Scholar
Dodge, K. A. (1980). Social cognition and children's aggression. Child Development, 51, 162–170.Google Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Bates, J., & Pettit, G. (1990). Mechanisms in the cycle of violence. Science, 250, 1678–1683.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duncan, O. (1961). A socioeconomic index for all occupations. In Reiss, A. J. Jr., (Ed.), Occupations and social status (pp. 109–138). New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., & Erickson, M. F. (1990). Rising above the past: Strategies for helping new mothers break the cycle of abuse and neglect. Zero to Three, 11, 29–35.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1988). Breaking the cycle of abuse: Relationship predictors. Child Development, 59, 1080–1088.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., & Sroufe, L. A. (1981a). Attachment and early maltreatment. Child Development, 52, 44–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egeland, B., & Sroufe, L. A. (1981b). Developmental sequelae of maltreatment in infancy. In Cicchetti, D. & Rizley, R. (Eds.), New directions for child development; Developmental perspectives on child maltreatment, 11, 77–92. San Francisco, CA: Jos-sey-Bass.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. (1973). The self-concept revisited: Or a theory of a theory. American Psychologist, 28, 404–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, S. (1991). Cognitive-experiential self theory: Implications for developmental psychology. In Gunnar, M. & Sroufe, L. A. (Eds.), Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (Vol. 23, pp. 79–123). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Erickson, M. F., & Egeland, B. (1987). A developmental view of the psychological consequences of maltreatment. School Psychology Review, 16, 156–168.Google Scholar
Fish-Murray, C. C., van der Kolk, B. A., & Koby, E. V. (1987). Evolving ideas: The effect of abuse on children's thought. In van der, Kolk (Ed.), Psychological trauma (pp. 89–110). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
Freud, A. (1966). The ego and the mechanisms of defense (rev. ed.). New York: International Universities Press. (Original work published 1939)Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1959). Character and anal erotism. In Strachey, J. (Gen. Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. IX, pp. 167–175). London: Hogarth. (Original work published 1908)Google Scholar
George, C., & Main, M. (1979). Social interactions of young abused children: Approach, avoidance, and aggression. Child Development, 50, 306–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giovannoni, J. M., & Billingsley, A. (1970). Child neglect among the poor: A study of parental adequacy in families of 3 ethnic groups. Child Welfare, 49, 196–204.Google Scholar
Hanna, J. E. (1991). The TAT as a diagnostic tool in the investigation of child abuse. Dissertation Abstracts International, 51, 4595B.Google Scholar
Kinnard, E. M. (1980). Emotional development in physically abused children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 50, 686–696.Google Scholar
Kobak, R. R. (1993). Attachment and emotion regulation during mother-teen problem solving: A control theory analysis. Child Development, 64, 231–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynch, M., & Cicchetti, D. (1991). Patterns of related-ness in maltreated and nonmaltreated children: Connections among multiple representational models. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 207–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, M. (1981). Avoidance in the service of attachment: A working paper. In Immelman, K., Barlow, G., Petrinovitch, L., & Main, M. (Eds.), Behavioral development: The Bielefield Interdisciplinary Project (pp. 651–693). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1984). Predicting rejection of her infant from mother's representation of her own experience: Implications for the abused-abusing intergenerational cycle. Child Abuse and Neglect, 8, 203–217.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1986). Adult attachment classification system. Unpublished manual, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents' unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In Greenberg, M. T., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In Bretherton, I. & Waters, E. (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209), 66–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandler, J. M. (1983). Representation. In Flavell, J. H. & Markman, E. M. (Eds.), Mussen, P. H. (Series Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. III. Cognitive development (pp. 420–494). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Murray, H. A. (1938/1943). Thematic Apperception Test and manual. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, K., & Gruendal, J. (1981). Generalized event representations: Basic building blocks of cognitive development. In Lamb, M. & Brown, A. (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology (Vol. I, pp. 131–158). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Norusis, M. J. (1990). SPSS advanced statistics student guide. Chicago: SPSS.Google Scholar
Pelton, L. H. (1978). Child abuse and neglect: The myth of classlessness. American Journal of Ortho-psychiatry, 48, 608–617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pelton, L. H. (1981). The social context of child abuse and neglect. New York: Human Sciences Press.Google Scholar
Pianta, R., Egeland, B., & Erickson, M. F. (1989). The antecedents of maltreatment: Results of the Mother-Child Interaction Research Project. In Cicchetti, D. & Carlson, V. (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 203–253). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Reidy, T. J. (1977). The aggressive characteristics of abused and neglected children. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23, 1140–1145.3.0.CO;2-G>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rieder, C., & Cicchetti, D. (1989). Organizational perspective on cognitive control functioning and cognitive-affective balance in maltreated children. Developmental Psychology, 25, 382–393.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. In Perlmutter, M. (Ed.), Minnesota Symposium in Child Psychology (Vol. 16, pp. 41–83). Hillsdale. NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1990). An organizational perspective on the self. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), The self in transition: Infancy to childhood (pp. 281–307). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Fleeson, J. (1986). Attachment and the construction of relationships. In Hartup, W. & Rubin, Z. (Eds.), Relationships and development (pp. 52–71). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., Schork, E., Motti, F., Lawroski, N., & LaFreniere, P. (1984). The role of affect in social competence. In Izard, C., Kagan, J., & Zajonc, R. (Eds.), Emotion, cognition, and behavior (pp. 155–192). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stevens, G., & Featherman, D. L. (1981). A revised socioeconomic index of occupational status. Social Science Research, 10, 364–395.Google Scholar
Stovall, G., & Craig, R. J. (1990). Mental representations of physically and sexually abused latency-aged females. Child Abuse and Neglect, 14, 233–242.Google Scholar
Straker, G., & Jacobsen, R. S. (1981). Aggression, emotional maladjustment, and empathy in the abused child. Developmental Psychology, 17, 762–765.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vondra, J., Barnett, D., & Cicchetti, D. (1989). Perceived and actual competence among maltreated and comparison school children. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 237–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1967). Manual for the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Westen, D. (1991). Social cognition and object relations. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 429–455.Google Scholar
Westen, D., Klepser, J., Ruffins, S. A., Silverman, M., & Lifton, N. (1991). Object relations in childhood and adolescence: The development of working representations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 400–409.Google Scholar
Youngblade, L. M., & Belsky, J. (1989). Child maltreatment, infant-parent attachment security, and dysfunctional peer relationships in childhood. Topics in Early Childhood Education, 9, 1–15.Google Scholar
Zuravin, S. J. (1991). Research definitions of child physical abuse and neglect: Current problems. In Starr, R. & Wolfe, D. (Eds.), The effects of child abuse and neglect: Issues and research. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar