The intergenerational transmission of abuse: The roles of attachment and parental self-reflectiveness

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the impact of childhood experiences of abuse and neglect on personality characteristics and parenting behavior in adulthood. The study is based on the developmental psychology... [ view full abstract ]

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the impact of childhood experiences of abuse and neglect on personality characteristics and parenting behavior in adulthood. The study is based on the developmental psychology models of Attachment Theory and the Theory of the Mind, which describe positive correlation between histories of abuse, attachment and parental reflective deficits.
Method: Two hundred and thirteen Jewish and Arab parents of children aged one to six participated in the study and completed six self-report questionnaires assessing childhood experiences of abuse and neglect, attachment characteristics, affect regulation, cognitive appraisal of parenthood, parental self-reflectiveness and parenting patterns.
Results: Parents who had experienced childhood abuse and neglect, typically displayed insecure attachment, scored lower in emotional control and lower in parental reflective functioning. Negative correlation was found between avoidant attachment and parental reflective functioning among parents who had experienced childhood abuse and neglect. The results also support existing differences between the effects of physical and sexual abuse versus emotional neglect in childhood, whereby parents who experienced physical and sexual abuse reported greater harm to personality characteristics (insecure attachment and affect regulation capacity) and parental behaviors compared to parents who experienced emotional neglect. The main findings arising from the regression analyses indicate that personal attributes such as nationality, childhood experience of neglect, personality traits (attachment characteristics and affect regulation) and cognitive appraisal of parenthood, predict at-risk parenthood.
Conclusions: The results support the notion of a vicious cycle leading from personality damage inflicted by childhood abuse and neglect to personality and parenthood. Practical applications of the present study would be to design appropriate prevention and treatment programs improving the quality of parent -child relationship. Interventions that strengthen the perception of parenting as a challenge rather than a threat are also recommended.